Melanie June Miller of Mermaid Waters, Queensland, has been sentenced to six months imprisonment in the Southport Magistrates’ Court for her involvement in an international investment scam which raised almost AUD7m from Australian investors.

Upon entering into a recognisance in the sum of AUD2,000 and condition that she be of good behaviour for a period of two years Miller will be released forthwith.

Miller, 43, was charged with one count of providing financial advice without an Australian Financial Services licence under s911A of the Corporations Act. This charge followed an ASIC investigation which found Miller encouraged approximately 80 people to invest their money with her US-based former fiancé, Norman Bates Hatchett, between December 2005 and December 2007. Hatchett was to use the funds for an alleged foreign exchange and commodities trading system.

ASIC’s investigation into Miller’s conduct specifically focused on eight investors to whom she provided unlicensed financial advice and promised returns of 20 per cent a month less a four per cent payment fee. These investors subsequently invested approximately AUD400,000.

Miller came to ASIC’s attention after Hatchett was unable to pay a number of investors their capital, claiming their money had been frozen by the US Securities and Exchange Commission. In December 2009, Hatchett was sentenced to nine years’ imprisonment for his involvement following an FBI investigation.