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The dishonest actor obtained almost $100,000 by providing invalid insurance to small businesses.
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Fraudulent SME business insurer sentenced to nearly three years in jail
04 April 2023
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A fraudulent business insurance issuer has been sentenced to almost three years in jail after he was found guilty of obtaining property and financial advantage by deception.
The Victoria County Court found Samuel Trubnick Tessa guilty of five counts of obtaining property by deception and two counts of obtaining financial advantage by deception relating to the sale of false business insurance.
Mr Tessa was given two years and 10 months’ imprisonment, with a non-parole period of one year eight months, and permanently banned from providing financial services or engaging in credit activities.
Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) deputy chair Sarah Court said he took advantage of vulnerable and unsuspecting small business owners.
“These small business owners trusted Mr Tessa with their funds for obtaining insurance and believed they held valid insurance policies when they did not,” said Ms Court.
“ASIC pursued this matter because of the significant impact on the small businesses involved, and the sentence of imprisonment imposed by the court should send a strong signal that deters others from engaging in similar dishonest conduct in the future.”
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Mr Tessa’s dishonest sale of purported insurance to Melbourne small businesses obtained him approximately $94,000.
It was found that neither Mr Tessa or his associated company Eastern Profits Pty Ltd, which traded as Review Financial Services, held an AFSL or an authorisation to conduct an insurance-related business.
The companies were also not authorised by APRA operate an insurance business, which meant the victims who had purchased policies from Mr Tessa did not hold genuine coverage.
As a result of his conviction, Mr Tessa was also disqualified from managing corporations for five years after his sentence is complete.
ASIC has advised small business owners that they should ask questions of any businesses they look to deal with such as requesting their ACN, ABN and any licence or authority they hold to operate in certain industries such as providing insurance.
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