Financial advisor jailed

Ryan Burnside, 35, has been jailed for a period of 2 years and 4 months for defrauding grandmother, Margaret Gallivan of her life savings using the pretext he was investing the money in a Lithuanian bank according to the Stirling Observer.

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) had banned Burnside working as a financial advisor prior to him obtaining £150,000 by fraud.

While Mrs Gallivan believed her money was being wisely invested the reality was Burnside was spending the money feeding his gambling addiction in casinos.
Whilst working for Investment firm Albannach in 2008, he was assigned Mrs Gallivan as a client of the firm. However Burnside was dismissed shortly after by Albannach and was no longer eligible for registration with the FSA, despite this he purported to still be employed in a financial advice capacity.
In order to alert people to the fact that Burnside was no longer authorised under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 a statement was released by the body in August 2010 to that effect. Unfortunately for Mrs Gallivan, she was unaware of this and was conned into giving Burnside more cash as Burnside told her some of her initial investments were under performing.

Mrs Gallivants reported Burnside after her son discovered he was no longer registered with the FSA to give financial advice. Burnside was subsequently arrested where he pled guilty to obtaining 150,000 by fraud whilst pretending to be a financial advisor.

At court, solicitor Frazer McCready explained, although Burnside had previously enjoyed a basic salary of approximately £75,000 per annum he had accrued debts of £40,000 after starting to gamble in 2005.

As noted in the Stirling Observer, Sheriff William Gilchrist told Burnside: “This was a gross breach of trust. Imprisonment is inevitable and the only issue is the duration. I have taken account of the amount, which was substantial , the period over which this offence was committed and the effect on the victim who has effectively been defrauded of her savings.”