FORMER Melbourne based property fundraiser Mark Andrew Cyril Stanley who cheated Primelife has been sentenced to five and a half years imprisonment after pleading guilty to theft.
In addition, Stanley, 46, pleaded guilty to stealing $2.79 million from investors and of misappropriating over $650,000 from a joint venture.
He was sentenced in the County Court of Victoria last Friday following two separate investigations by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.
He was subsequently charged with two counts of theft totalling approximately $2.79 million and two Corporations Act offences. The Corporations Act offences related to Stanley engaging in dishonest conduct regarding a financial product and dishonestly using his position as a company director with the intention of gaining an advantage for himself.
During 2003 and 2004, Stanley stole approximately $2.79 million from 25 investors in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania and the United Kingdom. These investors paid money to companies controlled by Stanley believing the funds would be used to buy land for the development of a retirement village in Berwick, Victoria.
The retirement village, known as Casey Downs, was to be developed in conjunction with Primelife Corporation Ltd. The joint venture never went ahead.
Stanley then used the investors’ money for his own purposes, in part to maintain his lifestyle and repay personal and company-related debts.
The Corporations Act charge involved Stanley knowingly making misrepresentations to Primelife regarding funds that were raised to settle on the purchase of the land and providing false documentation.
Meanwhile, Stanley also pleaded guilty to one count of dishonestly using his position as a director of St Leonards Property Pty Ltd with the intention of gaining an advantage for himself by authorising five payments totalling $651,621 from the bank account of the company.
This related to a joint property venture Stanley entered into with three other individuals in Sydney during 2001. The funds were payable to one of the joint venture participants but were instead disbursed by Stanley in 2002 without the knowledge of the other individuals.
Stanley will now serve a non-parole period of three and a half years and his sentence also includes a term of three years, to be served concurrently, for one count of defrauding the Commonwealth regarding sales tax of $884,733.
Australian Property Journal
