On 3 May 2022, Dr Roger Gareth Munro was sentenced in the District Court of Queensland to four and a half years imprisonment, with a non-parole period of 15 months, after being convicted of fraud.
ASIC’s investigation found between March 2013 and April 2014, Dr Munro received $299,600 from three investors after he had invited them to invest in his trading scheme, TradeStation Futures Trading Fund (TradeStation).
Rather than investing those funds in TradeStation, as he had represented to the investors, Dr Munro dishonestly applied the funds to pay for personal expenses, make cash withdrawals, make payments to other investors and transferring funds into a trading account held in the name of Dr Munro’s wife.
Investors were not aware their funds were being used by Dr Munro in this way and Dr Munro continued to make representations to investors that their funds were being invested in TradeStation by falsely reporting on the profits and losses being made by TradeStation.
In sentencing, Judge Smith said that the offending had a significant impact on the victims.
Dr Munro was arrested on 17 March 2017 and charged with five counts of fraud. Two of the charges did not proceed and Dr Munro went on to plead guilty to three counts of fraud in July 2021 (21-178MR).
The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions prosecuted this matter after a referral of a prosecution brief by ASIC.
Background
In July 2015, ASIC took civil action against Dr Munro and Mrs Munro for carrying on a financial services business without holding an Australian financial services (AFS) licence (15-201MR). The Supreme Court of Queensland found in February 2017 that Dr Munro had breached the Corporations Act by carrying on a financial services business in Australia without holding an AFS licence and permanently restrained him from doing so (16-023MR).
Dr Munro pleaded guilty to three counts of fraud on 19 July 2021. This was the fifth listing of this matter since the indictment was presented on 12 March 2018. On 10 August 2021, Dr Munro’s legal representatives filed an application seeking orders that the pleas of guilty be set aside. On 8 April 2022, the Court dismissed the application.
