‘Brazen, gross, and callous’: Adviser sentenced to 12 years of imprisonment

A former financial adviser and director of Growth Plus Financial Group has been sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment following a three-week retrial in the Brisbane District Court.

On 23 August 2024, a jury found Jayaweera guilty of 28 counts of fraud pursuant to section 408C(1)(e) Criminal Code Act 1899 (Qld). Over the course of 28 transactions. Jayaweera caused 12 former clients a total detriment of $5.96 million.

“ASIC is committed to pursuing criminals who commit serious harm against individuals and act dishonestly, as was the case here,” Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) deputy chair Sarah Court said.

“Mr Jayaweera’s actions betrayed the trust of his clients with some clients at or near retirement age and caused them significant financial harm. This sentence demonstrates that such behaviour will not be tolerated.”

In sentencing Jayaweera, Judge Moynihan KC described his conduct as “brazen, gross, and callous” and said, “his actions were not only criminal but evil, demonstrating no remorse”.

His Honour noted there was a gross breach of trust and the victims have suffered and continue to suffer substantial personal and financial harm.

Judge Moynihan KC also observed that this was a case of serious offending as Jayaweera was a trusted financial adviser and his actions were deliberate, sophisticated and systematic. Jayaweera withheld information from his clients concerning the true nature of the fund and, in some cases, removed clients’ funds from self-managed super funds (SMSFs) without their knowledge or consent.

Between August 2013 to November 2015, Jayaweera dishonestly obtained money from his clients via two methods:

• He induced clients to invest in the Australian Diversified Sector Investment Fund (ADSIF) by misrepresenting the attributes/qualities of the fund to give the impression that it was a diversified investment fund holding assets in a range of asset classes. Those investment monies were then transferred to one of Jayaweera’s corporate entity accounts.
• He encouraged clients to establish SMSFs, which involved transferring the clients’ superannuation funds into a newly set up bank account with the Adelaide Bank. Jayaweera then transferred money from those accounts to one of his corporate entity accounts without authority.

Jayaweera made the following representations about ADSIF, both orally and in writing, to investors: ADSIF was a diversified fund which held underlying assets in aquaculture, agriculture, property and cash investments in Australia, and there was a maximum fund allocation assigned to each asset class.

Moreover, Jayaweera intentionally omitted to inform investors that ADSIF was not a diversified fund, and that he was involved and had a controlling interest in the abalone farming project through those private corporate entities as the sole director and shareholder. He also didn’t share that since ADSIF did not hold any physical assets, there was no capacity for its investments to achieve capital growth.

Jayaweera will be eligible for parole after six years, with 977 days of pre-sentence custody declared as time already served.