Former investment manager pleads guilty to portfolio report forgery

Yasmine Raso

Senior Journalist, Financial Newswire

13 May 2024

The director of former financial services company and Australian financial services licence (AFSL) holder, Metal Alpha, has pleaded guilty to forging portfolio performance verification reports.

According to a statement from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), between April and October 2019, Brett Paul Trevillian forged four portfolio performance verification reports related to two products offered by investment business, AlphaThorn, of which he was investment manager.

The reports were to be distributed to investors in the Secured service and Enhanced service products, falsely laying claim to a history of investment returns delivered by AlphaThorn.

Trevillian was arrested by NSW Police officers on 20 July last year and, with the matter now being prosecuted by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions after a referral from ASIC, pleaded guilty to two offences related to the two products of making a false document with the intention to obtain a financial advantage on 7 May.

Trevillian will next appear before the Sydney District Court on 7 June to discuss sentencing, of which the offence carries a maximum 10 years imprisonment.

Despite AlphaThorn now operating under the name Trading Life Services Pty Ltd, Metal Alpha had its AFSL cancelled by the corporate regulator on 19 May 2022 after the company confirmed on 18 May it “was no longer carrying on a financial services business and had no intention to resume trading”.