Former celebrity financial adviser Sam Henderson fined $10,000
Former financial adviser Sam Henderson was sentenced in the New South Wales local court yesterday after previously pleading guilty to charges relating to dishonest conduct and defective disclosure to clients.
Henderson was fined a total of $10,000 for three breaches of the Corporations Act and entered a recognisance bond with a condition of good behavior for two years.
He was fined $7000 for two counts of making a disclosure document available to a person knowing it to be defective. He was also fined $3000 for the "rolled up" charge of dishonest conduct.
Magistrate Jennifer Atkinson applied a 25% discount to the sentence because of Henderson's guilty plea.
The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions prosecuted the matter after a referral from ASIC.
ASIC alleged that between July 2010, and November 2017, Henderson made false representations that he had a Master of Commerce.
ASIC also alleged Henderson breached the law in in 2014 and 2016 by giving two clients a Financial Services Guide containing the false representation that he held a Master of Commerce (Financial Planning).
Henderson, the former chief executive, director and senior financial adviser at advice firm Henderson Maxwell, was also alleged to have made the false representation that he held a Master of Commerce in some of his professional biographies and descriptions. This included in his 2013 book, One-Page Financial Plan: Everything you need to successfully manage your money and invest for wealth creation.
ASIC said that "in handing down her sentence, Atkinson noted the need for the court to send a message to the community at large that being a financial adviser is a specialist position. Marketing material and websites, including qualifications, need to be correct".
Henderson was the centre of a bad advice case study in the Financial Services Royal Commission and was later banned by ASIC from providing financial services for three years in July 2019. It was found he failed to act in the best interests of his clients, provide appropriate advice and to prioritise his clients' interests when providing personal financial advice.
Henderson contributed to Money magazine until 2018.
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