A former Gold Coast property scheme promoter, Anthony Keith Silver, has been sentenced to eight-and-a-half-years in jail for fraud totalling $1.815 million, following an ASIC investigation.
ASIC said Silver, also known as Tony Silver, was the shadow director of Capital Growth International Club and All About Property Developments (the scheme companies), which raised $9 million from investors between 2008 and 2010.
Silver pleaded guilty to misappropriating $1.815 million from the companies in 2010 by transferring funds to his personal bank account, making payments to employees and paying returns to other investors.
ASIC said that many of the investors caught up in the promotion scheme were pensioners and were approached to invest in the scheme companies by cold-call telemarketing or word of mouth.
Silver, of Hobart in Tasmania, who pleaded guilty to fraud, told investors their funds would be used to develop property in Tasmania or be pooled and invested in bank term deposits.
Investors were also told they would receive returns of 15% to 20% per annum on their investments, which convinced some to borrow against their homes to invest with the scheme companies.
In delivering the sentence with a non-parole period of two-and-a-half years, Judge Vicki Loury KC remarked on the significant impact and financial and psychological cost of the fraud on the victims.
Silver’s sentence follows his son Bradley Silver being sentenced to eight years in prison in 2019 for dishonesty offences relating to the scheme companies totalling over $4.7 million.
Former Westpac home finance manager David St Pierre was also sentenced to three years in 2017 after pleading guilty to dishonest use of his position concerning his role in submitting false loan applications to obtain over $2.5 million for Westpac customers to invest in the scheme companies.
In March 2014, ASIC permanently banned St Pierre from engaging credit in activities and providing financial services. In October 2014, Westpac remediated investors in the scheme companies who had contact with St Pierre before investing.
