Former financial adviser sentenced at Auckland District Court

Former financial adviser sentenced at Auckland District Court
A former registered financial adviser has been sentenced at the Auckland District Court for charges involving forgery of clients' initials and falsely amended insurance applications, according to the Financial Markets Authority.  

Anthony Wilson's sentence involves 150 hours of community work, 6 months community detention and an order to pay reparations of $16,461.24. 

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.

He 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.”