A former head of operations at stockbroking firm BBY Limited (BBY) — now in voluntary administration — has been charged with obtaining a financial advantage by deception.
On Monday (12 September), ASIC confirmed that Fiona Bilton appeared in Melbourne Magistrate's Court and was charged with three counts of dishonestly obtaining a financial advantage for BBY by deceiving St George Bank on 115 separate occasions between June 2013 and May 2015.
According to the corporate watchdog, Ms Bilton was involved in obtaining overdraft funding from St George Bank for BBY that the company was not entitled to.
Each offence carries a maximum penalty of 10 years' imprisonment.
The matter was adjourned for further mention on 25 October 2022.
In 2015, ASIC suspended BBY’s AFS licence held by BBY for a period of three years following the appointment of Stephen Vaughan and Ian Hall as joint administrators to the company.
Initially, the suspension was to run for three years effective from 2015 until 28 May 2018, but it was suspended for a further 12 months at the time.
In June 2019, ASIC again extended the suspension of the AFS licence until 28 May 2020.
The licence was eventually cancelled in June 2021.
ASIC has confirmed its investigation into BBY is ongoing.
Neil Griffiths
Neil is the Deputy Editor of the wealth titles, including ifa and InvestorDaily.
Neil is also the host of the ifa show podcast.
