Former Wickham Securities chair charged with fraud

Shereel Patel
Brad Sherwin, the chairman of Wickham Securities and a principal of Sherwin Financial Planners, appeared in the Brisbane Magistrates Court yesterday facing 33 counts of "dishonestly causing detriment" between 2009 and 2012.

The losses involved in yesterday's action totalled nearly A$10 million, stemming from the alleged misuse of the self-managed superannuation funds of former clients of Sherwin Financial Planners.

A plea was not entered and Sherwin was granted conditional bail. The matter will return to the Brisbane Magistrates Court on July 23.

The court action is one of several underway, following an investigation by ASIC into the collapse of Wickham Securities in December 2012.

Wickham Securities, one of several companies of which Sherwin was once a director, was placed in administration in January 2013. Investors in these companies face a total expected loss in excess of $30 million, according to ASIC.

In April 2015 the former chief executive of Wickham Securities, Garth Peter Robertson, was charged with fraud. In June 2013, ASIC cancelled the registration of Wickham's former auditor, Brian Kingston, for not adequately and properly performing his duties.