Former Melbourne financial planner Bradley Grimm has been sentenced to 18 months in prison, with nine months to serve, for engaging in dishonest conduct while running a financial services business, ASIC reported.
The County Court of Victoria convicted Grimm on three counts of dishonest conduct, following his admission to several illegal financial transactions involving his clients’ self-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs).
Grimm transferred funds between clients’ SMSFs to companies where he was the sole director, including Thrive Lending, Trade BTC, and Beta Pharmacology, despite knowing these entities had little market value.
Additionally, Grimm dishonestly transferred shares and convertible notes from his clients’ SMSFs to Equity Capital Partners Hedge Fund, without disclosing his personal interest in the company.
In sentencing, Justice Michael O’Connell stressed that Grimm was fully aware of his obligations as a licensed financial adviser.
Grimm “abused the position of trust that a licensed financial adviser holds,” O’Connell said.
He further remarked on the severity of the misconduct, noting Grimm’s “moral culpability was high.”
Grimm, along with his company Ostrava Equities, had previously been involved in financial misconduct that led to ASIC’s successful action to wind up multiple entities connected to him, including Ostrava Asset Management and Ostrava Wealth Management. Grimm had been banned from providing financial services following these actions.
The court also considered Grimm’s guilty plea when determining his sentence, which includes a requirement to be on good behaviour for 18 months following his release.
Prior to this news, ASIC reported that Ben Jayaweera, a former financial adviser and director of Growth Plus Financial Group, has been sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment. The corporate watchdog also reported that the Federal Court ruled against Bit Trade, the Australian operator of the Kraken cryptocurrency exchange, for failing to meet legal requirements in the design and distribution of a margin trading product.
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