Former RFA sentenced at Auckland District Court
Former RFA sentenced at Auckland District Court
A former
registered financial adviser who forged clients’ initials
and falsely amended insurance applications has been
sentenced to 150 hours of community work, 6 months community
detention and ordered to pay reparations of
$16,461.24.
Anthony Wilson had earlier pleaded guilty to
a total of four charges under the Crimes Act brought by the
Financial Markets Authority at the Auckland District
Court.
Wilson admitted three charges of making a false
document for pecuniary advantage and one charge of
dishonestly using a document for pecuniary
advantage.
Wilson submitted three applications for
insurance in circumstances where he had forged clients’
initials, and in one of those cases he had falsely amended
the application form. The admitted conduct related to the
disclosure of pre-existing medical conditions.
Wilson’s actions led to the insurer avoiding a claim for medical insurance on the basis of a breach of duty of good faith. Judge Black described this as a “profound” aggravating factor, which had caused “significant distress and hardship”.
Nick Kynoch, General Counsel at the FMA, said
“As Judge Black noted in sentencing, the offending was an
abuse of trust that was clearly premeditated, occurring on
more than one occasion. The relationship between clients and
advisers is based on trust and this is critical to the
integrity of the
sector.”
Ends