Bogus hot shot stock broker Matthew Waij jailed after pleading guilty to multiple fraud charges

A sneaky fraudster who posed as a jetsetting Hong Kong-based stock broker blew stolen cash on the strippers and gambling.

Matthew Waij pleaded guilty to 18 fraud related charges. Facebook.

A bogus stock broker who duped friends, family and other victims out of more than $2.7m, which he blew on a jetsetting luxury lifestyle, has been jailed.

Matthew Waij, 39, was sentenced in the County Court on Wednesday to a minimum four years and two months’ jail after pleading guilty to 18 fraud charges.

Waij rorted $2,729,500 via his protracted fraud racket between September 2006 and June 2017.

The scoundrel’s many victims included his uncle, aunt, a former Southern Cross Bendigo employee, a Shepparton builder and a Shepparton dairy farmer.

Waij, who the court was told never held an Australian Financial Services licence, fronted as a licenced financial adviser and stock broker.

The fraudster, who provided financial “advice” to his victims, arranged for their superannuation savings to be transferred to self-managed super funds.

Waij promised the cash would be soundly invested but instead took control of their cash and transferred the dough to various bank accounts.

Waij also offered assistance with home loan rates.

The conman masked his thievery with various letterheads of companies which either didn’t exist or he wasn’t associated with.

Waij also dished out you beaut business cards that listed him as director of Stier Capital Limited.

Waij, who falsely claimed he held a masters in finance and accounting, created several companies — many of which were based in Shepparton — to help funnel the cash.

In reality, Waij was using his victim’s cash to pay other investors in a racket described by the prosecution as “robbing Peter to pay Paul”.

“Is that a Ponzi scheme,” Judge Douglas Trapnell said.

“The whole problem with a Ponzi scheme is when the music stops and a lot of people don’t have chairs to sit on.”

Waij aka Matthew Way or Matty Waij blew some cash on flights.

The prosecution submitted Waij bought some shares but the shares he held was “grossly deficient” to “meet the individual representations made to the numerous investors”.

Waij, who told several victims he had offices in Melbourne and Hong Kong, also spent the cash on flash Gucci products, legal bills, gambling, Men’s Gallery Sydney, lavish dinners, flights, hotels, traveller’s cheques and Deliveroo orders according to bank records submitted to the court.

Police caught up with Waij in October 2019 while he was serving a jail term for a fraud he committed in 2006.

Waij told police he sent $10m “overseas”, paid a $700,000 ATO bill and had “civil litigation against 67 people”.

Waij had his head down as angry family members read their victim impact statements to the court during a plea hearing heard earlier this year.

Sidney Aspland, who has been in a de facto relationship with Waij’s mother Jacinta Way for more than 20 years, said the offending put a “strain on our relationship”.

Mr Aspland said his super and savings had been drained and he had been evicted from his home after the offending.

“We were evicted and our beautiful home was gone”

“Matt her (Ms Way) son was also my son … “I can honestly say I treated him like my four children, in fact, sometimes better.”

“It was devastating … I honestly don’t believe anything anymore … Matt set out to rob and steal from me.”

“He’s not welcome in my home … not now nor in the future.”

The court heard Waij — who changed his name from Matthew Way –— dropped out of a Deakin University business degree in the early 2000s.

Waij worked for Westpac while still at uni then shifted to Goldman Sachs in 2005, the court was told.

Waij then worked for ABN Amro as a Junior Broker in 2006 then Fortrend Securities in 2007 where he traded in “international stock for local markets”.

The former high-flyer then worked as a broker between Australia and Hong Kong during much of the offending period.

Waij was retained as a “consultant” in Hong Kong after being involved in “raising multi million-dollar funds” for other brokers.

Waij met his wife in Hong Kong and the couple have since relocated to Australia.

Waij, who appeared via videolink from Fulham Correctional, is serving a seven-year jail term for prior fraud offending.

Waij was jailed for a maximum eight years and four months.

He will be eligible for parole in December 2025.