Australian Securities & Investments Commission investigation results in charges against former Professional Wealth Management director over alleged AUD 850,000 investor losses

The Australian Securities & Investments Commission announced that Donald James Cuthbertson, a former financial services company director and financial adviser, has been charged following an ASIC investigation into alleged dishonest representations to investors that resulted in losses of at least AUD 850,000 to at least six investors. He appeared in the Downing Centre Local Court facing six charges of dishonest conduct in relation to a financial product under section 1041G of the Corporations Act and one charge of the same offence committed by proxy. Mr Cuthbertson was the sole director of Professional Wealth Management Pty Ltd and related companies Professional Wealth Management Services Pty Ltd and Professional Wealth Investments Pty Ltd, with Professional Wealth Management Services having held an Australian financial services licence until ASIC cancelled it in 2023. The charges relate to alleged conduct between 11 December 2018 and 9 October 2019 involving a series of dishonest representations to potential investors about acquiring shares in Professional Wealth Management, including claims made at investor seminars about future share valuations, earnings and dividends and purported plans to list on the Australian Securities Exchange. The matter is being prosecuted by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions following ASIC’s referral of a criminal brief, and each section 1041G offence carries a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment and or 4,500 penalty units, stated as AUD 945,000. The case has been adjourned to 23 September 2025.