Bank fraudster convicted

Financial watchdog successfully appeals sentence

DISGRACED Gold Coast financial planner Ricky David Gillespie has been hit with a tougher sentence for ripping off clients over a two-and-ahalf year period.

The Australian Securities Investment Commission successfully appealed against Gillespie’s sentence, which was handed down on December 12 last year, on the grounds it was not harsh enough.

The former Broadbeach Commonwealth Bank financial planner was fined just $3000 and no conviction was recorded after he pleaded guilty to forging 33 documents.

The bank forked out $2.2 million in compensation to the 33 clients for the forgeries which happened between January 2007 and June 2009.

CBA discovered that he had forged signatures to improperly obtain commissions and trailing fees, altered dates and overcharged many of his 57 clients.

Late last month District Court Judge Jennifer Rosengren ruled Gillespie’s original penalty was not harsh enough.

The maximum penalty for the offence of forgery is three years’ imprisonment.

“Over a period of nearly two years, he (Gillespie) forged the signatures of 18 clients on 33 documents,” Judge Rosengren wrote in her decision.

“In none of the 33 instances had the clients been shown the documents, nor had they been made aware of the contents of them throughout their dealings with the respondent.”

Gillespie argued that a conviction should not be recorded because ASIC had, in 2012, banned him for life from working as a financial planner.

He also argued that the life ban would be revealed by a Google search by any future potential employer.

Gillespie said he had applied for about 200 jobs and had not been able to find shortterm work for about 20 to 30 per cent of the past nine years.

Judge Rosengren set aside the no conviction and imposed a new sentence whereby the conviction was recorded.

“The respondent’s dishonest conduct warrants a stern penalty, so that those involved in the financial services industry fully comprehend the importance of complying with policies and procedures designed to protect both the bank and its clients,” she wrote in her decision.

“A strong message needs to be sent to those who engage in similar conduct that they will be apprehended, and they will be punished to the full extent of the law.”