Financial adviser Murray McClune pleads guilty to $1.7 million client theft

Financial adviser used client funds for personal use, falsified statements

Murray McClune, a former financial adviser, has pleaded guilty to two charges of theft by a person in a special relationship after stealing approximately $1.7 million from clients. The charges followed an investigation by the Financial Markets Authority (FMA).

McClune, who began working in the insurance industry in the late 1960s, offered investment opportunities through his business, Insurance Plus Limited. Between 2016 and 2022, he obtained approximately $1.7 million from two sets of elderly clients under the pretense of investing the money on their behalf.

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Instead of investing the funds, McClune used portions of the money for personal purposes. He also created falsified statements to mislead clients into believing their funds were properly invested and to conceal unauthorized financial activities. The misconduct was discovered when McClune could not repay clients upon request.

“McClune dealt with the funds of elderly, vulnerable investors with whom he had a close personal relationship and took advantage of those relationships to misappropriate their funds,” said Margot Gatland, FMA’s head of enforcement. “In addition to being devastating to the victims, offending of this nature undermines public confidence in registered advisers and harms their reputations.”

McClune was scheduled to stand trial in July but entered a guilty plea ahead of the trial. He now faces a maximum prison sentence of seven years.

He was registered on the Financial Service Providers Register as an insurance broker until November 2016 and remained a registered financial adviser until April 2022.

According to the Companies Office, the Registrar of Companies has begun the process of removing Insurance Plus Limited from the corporate register. McClune is listed as the sole director and shareholder of the company.

The Financial Markets Authority continues to emphasize the importance of safeguarding investor trust, particularly when it involves financial advisers in positions of special responsibility.