They were tricked into believing their money was earning annualised returns of between 30 per cent and 50 per cent. In reality, their money had never been invested in futures contracts with a trading account as promised.
Instead, it was put into another account of Munro’s wife, which ran at a loss, and some funds were used for personal spending, such as an Amazon Prime membership.
“There was a substantial breach of trust,” Justice Paul Smith said on Tuesday afternoon.
Looking dishevelled, with his shirt untucked and shuffling while seated in the dock, Munro hugged a family member as he was led away downstairs. The court was told he had suffered conditions such as depression and incontinence, while his ill wife would be at home by herself.
He had been charged initially in 2017 over that scheme following an Australian Securities and Investments Commission probe. But the matter was prolonged with trial adjournments on grounds including medical reasons, cancer treatment and the COVID-19 pandemic.
His guilty plea alone was a saga. Munro had pleaded guilty initially last year, then sought to reverse that plea on the day of sentencing. That triggered another round of legal action only for that attempted plea reversal to be quashed last month.
Munro had first come to ASIC’s attention in December 2008 over an earlier failed venture.
Before the GFC, Munro had recruited to an initial venture 70 investors, including New York business people, Just Jeans founder Craig Kimberley and…
