Accountant permanently banned for dodgy behaviour

Nicholas Ellis, of Lake Macquarie, NSW, was sentenced in October last year to three years of imprisonment for fraud offences, to be served by way of an Intensive Correction Order, after pleading guilty to misappropriation and false or misleading statements.

Under the order, he will serve 12 months’ home detention — which is subject to a suitability assessment — and be required to undertake 700 hours of community service.

Following the conviction, ASIC pursued the banning order to remove Mr Ellis permanently from the financial advice and credit industries.

Mr Ellis was also given a six-year ban from providing financial services in 2013 for dishonest conduct in unrelated matters. 

He now has the right to appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for a review of ASIC’s decision.

In response to the sentencing last year, ASIC commissioner Danielle Press said: “Mr Ellis was a trusted financial adviser and accountant, who misled his clients and misused their funds for the benefit of his own business.”

ASIC said at the time that Mr Ellis admitted to sending 10 letters and one email to clients in relation to raising funds to purchase a hotel in Tura, NSW, through his company Tura Pty Ltd, and as a result had misappropriated $562,000 in client funds received.

Some of these funds, according to ASIC, were used to purchase a house in the beachside Sydney suburb of Manly.