A former Adelaide financial adviser has been sentenced to 27 months in jail for presenting an elderly client with fraudulent documents which allowed him to withdraw almost $200,000 in funds from her investments.

David Mudge will serve a minimum year in prison before being released. The conviction, which arose from an Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) investigation, came about after he presented the client with documents to sign between September 1999 and October 2001. He did not inform her they would allow him to withdraw funds from her investments.

ASIC previously successfully applied to the Federal Court to freeze proceeds from the sale of one of Mr Mudge’s properties in order to assist in the recovery of funds. It also obtained an order that he must pay the client about $216,767, inclusive of interest. So far only $99,315 of the sum has been paid to the client.