Thanh Tu persuaded 18 investors to invest approximately A$9m (£4.3m, €5.7m, $6.2m) in two fictitious funds, going so far as to provide them with false certificates of investment.
The funds were redirected, through a number of different accounts, to a personal trading account held by Tu with a third party. For his own purposes, Tu traded the money in risky investments and lost over A$8.1m of the original capital invested.
A total of A$959,000 was recovered.
Not tolerated
Greg Tanzer, commissioner of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), said Tu had deliberately and systematically breached the trust of his clients on a large scale, resulting in the loss of millions of dollars.
“The actions of Mr Tu were deceitful and calculated and undermine confidence in the financial advice industry. His lengthy jail sentence should send a strong message that such conduct will not be tolerated by ASIC or the community,” Tanzer said.
