Anthony Torre: Subiaco financial adviser plundered $1.03 million from clients in ‘gross breach of trust’

Elderly victims of a western suburbs fraudster have revealed heartbreaking details of how he destroyed their retirement, forcing them to rely on welfare. Anthony Torre, 57, was operating a financial advisory business in Subiaco and living in Mosman Park when he helped himself to $1.03m from eight customers’ hard-earned superannuation funds. Among them were Sue and Gary Sheehan, aged 77 and 79, who have been waiting since 2010 to see justice served. Their accountant of three decades had recommended Torre’s services and he earned their trust by “spasmodically” paying interest on a large loan he’d talked them into handing over, Mrs Sheehan said. “He would greet us with a hug,” she told reporters outside court on Monday. “He was very good for the first three or four years - we didn’t realise that we’d been ripped off.” Her husband said Torre “totally groomed” them. “He’s a liar, a thief, a forger,” Mr Sheehan said. The pair had to wait until Torre was declared bankrupt in 2016 before they could get their full pension. “We had no money ... we were getting $63 a fortnight from Centrelink,” Mrs Sheehan said. “We had to sell off assets at losses ... we sold whatever we could. “We couldn’t go to the dentist. Couldn’t get the eyes fixed. “Even getting in the car was an ordeal because you have to put fuel in.” In the midst of their anguish, Mr Sheehan suffered a brain tumour. Defence counsel Christian Porter conceded that it was “undeniably a serious matter” involving a “gross breach of trust”. But Torre did not set out to rip off his clients, Mr Porter said, describing the offending as “Ponzi-ish” given he used the retirement savings of some clients to reimburse others, when pressed. The lawyer said Torre believed he could “trade his way out” of trouble, labelling his “loose wheeling and dealing” with clients’ cash “a money-go-round”. Judge John Prior said about two-thirds of the pilfered funds had either been paid back by Torre himself or superannuation fund insurers. But victims had been left with anxiety and depression, distrust and feelings of humiliation - and in some cases, they developed physical symptoms including hypertension. Torre, on the other hand, had splashed much of the cash on his home and personal expenses, and had not been driven by gambling or drug addictions like other similar offenders. Prosecutor Jennifer Solliss said it was a case of “greed rather than need”. Mr Porter said Torre’s repayments showed a “very strange mentality of trying to make good on the immorality and wrongfulness” of his white-collar crimes. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s investigation into Torre began in 2018 and charges only followed in 2022. In a last-minute plea deal, on what was to be the first day of his District Court of WA trial in January last year, Torre pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud and three counts of stealing. He has been in custody since and will be sentenced on Thursday. The Sheehans say other victims were too embarrassed to come forward, describing the case as “the tip of the iceberg”. Torre was initially accused of thieving $1.88m.