Former celebrity financial planner Sam Henderson guilty of misrepresenting qualifications

Former celebrity financial planner Sam Henderson pleaded guilty on three charges on Tuesday for misrepresenting his qualifications over several years.

Henderson was banned from holding a director position by ASIC in 2019.

Fallen celebrity financial planner Sam Henderson pleaded guilty on three charges in the NSW District Court on Tuesday for misrepresenting his qualifications over several years.

Henderson, who did not appear before the court, faces a maximum imprisonment of one year on two of the charges and two years on the other or a fine not exceeding 120 penalty units.

He faced charges arising from his appearance before the Hayne Royal Commission into Financial Misconduct in 2018.

Corporate regulator ASIC alleges Henderson breached the Corporations Act in 2014 and 2016 by giving at least two clients a financial services guide that suggested he had a Masters of Commerce (financial planning) when he did not.

The regulator also alleged that Henderson stated he held a Master of Commerce in 115 PowerPoint presentations, on his website and in brochures between 2010 and 2017.

He will be sentenced on October 13.

The former high-profile financial commentator and planner, who frequently appeared on Sky Business, in The Australian Financial Review, The Sydney Morning Herald and Channel Nine’s The Today Show, was disgraced after it emerged he and his staff had engaged in questionable conduct.

The royal commission heard allegations he directed staff impersonate clients to the superannuation funds and offered financial advice to Fair Work Commissioner Donna McKenna that would have caused her to lose a significant portion of her superannuation.

Henderson has since been banned for three years from holding a director position by ASIC in 2019.

He has since reinvented himself following the sale of his financial planning business, including launching a hamper business and as a life coach for budding executives.

“Today Sam describes the Royal Commission as a ‘gift’ and the subsequent media storm as “happening for him and not to him” drawing upon his deep philosophy of helping people and contributing back to the community whilst also taking ownership and responsibility for his shortcomings,” he says on his website.

Henderson’s financial planning firm Maxwell Henderson, which opened in 2004 was sold to Italian asset management group AZ Next Generation Advisory in 2017 for $11.6m.

His firm was named Practice of the Year at the 2016 Association of Financial Advisers awards ceremony.

AZ NGA, backed by Milan-listed Azimut, bought Henderson Maxwell in late 2017 in a deal reportedly worth $11.6 million.

The Maxwell Henderson brand has since been dumped and rebranded Pride Advice and Accounting.