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ISCOVER
Staff Reporter
A former Sydney-based financial adviser has been sentenced to more than one year behind bars after being found to have engaged in dishonest conduct.
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Yesterday, Susan Heathwood was sentenced to 19 months' imprisonment and 22 months' imprisonment respectively after pleading guilty to two counts of dishonest conduct in relation to financial services.
The periods of imprisonment were wholly suspended immediately upon Ms Heathwood entering into a $1,000 two-year good behaviour bond.
In suspending the sentence, the Downing Centre District Court considered relevant mitigating factors, including Ms Heathwood's cooperation with ASIC investigators and her early guilty plea.
ASIC’s investigation found that between August 2009 and May 2011, Ms Heathwood falsified 65 insurance applications that led to her collecting over $380,000 in commissions.
At that time, Ms Heathwood was an authorised representative of GuardianFP and an employee of Jalee Consulting Group.
ASIC found Ms Heathwood collected total commissions of $380,897.22 in respect of the policies generated from the false insurance applications.
A total of $326,207.59 was retrieved by the insurance companies in the form of writebacks.
Ms Heathwood made premium payments for a number of the policies, which totalled $49,275.22, in an attempt to hide her actions.
