The Federal Court has sentenced the former CEO of AI marketing company Metigy Pty Ltd (Metigy), David Fairfull, to nine years’ imprisonment following an ASIC investigation into misleading conduct and the misuse of company funds.

After pleading guilty in November 2025 (25-263MR), the Federal Court today convicted Mr Fairfull on one count each of making false and misleading statements to investors and dishonestly using his position as a director for personal gain.

Mr Fairfull was sentenced to seven years and six months’ imprisonment for making false or misleading statements to investors and three years’ imprisonment for using his position as a director dishonestly.

18 months of the sentence was ordered to be served concurrently.

As a result, the total sentence imposed by the court was nine years imprisonment with a non-parole period of five years and four months.

ASIC Chair Sarah Court said the investigation and prosecution of misconduct related to directors’ duties is an enduring enforcement priority.

‘Mr Fairfull’s actions were a breach of the integrity and honesty expected of directors, and his imprisonment reflects the seriousness of his crime.

‘Mr Fairfull fed investors false statements about the company’s financial performance and misused company funds for his own personal benefit.

‘ASIC will continue its focus on director misconduct, and we will not hesitate to take action in response to serious governance failures,’ the Chair said.

The offending related to multiple capital raising activities between 2018 and 2021 during which investors contributed significant funds to Metigy based on false representations about the company’s financial performance, including:

• three capital raisings between October 2018 and October 2020, which raised approximately $23.4 million,
• a secondary share sale in July 2021, which raised approximately $15.7 million, and
• a proposed capital raising of $50 million.

In total, investors paid just over $39 million based on Mr Fairfull’s sustained and repeated misleading statements.

In November 2021, Mr Fairfull also dishonestly used his position as a director to cause $7.7 million to be lent by Metigy to fund the purchase of residential real estate for his personal benefit.

In sentencing Mr Fairfull, Justice Abraham said his acts were ‘deliberate, premeditated, sophisticated and rational ones to achieve a purpose.’

‘They were dishonest acts designed for personal gain,’ Her Honour found.

Her Honour referred to a statement provided to the court by one of the investors and noted that it was ‘…illustrative of the type of loss that Mr Fairfull’s offending has caused for the investors and purchasers of shares, who relied upon the false information he provided. This included “hard working Australians saving for retirement and wanting to back Australian businesses”.’

Her Honour went on to observe however that ‘victims of these types of crimes are not confined to those who directly suffered through loss of their funds, but extend to the investing public at large.’

Her Honour held that offending of this type ‘undermines the integrity of Australia’s financial markets and system of corporate regulation and erodes the confidence of participants in the commercial world.’

The matter was prosecuted by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (Cth) (CDPP) following an investigation by ASIC.

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Judgment

Background

Between 2018 and 2021, the Metigy group developed software marketed as using artificial intelligence to support small and medium businesses with digital marketing strategies.

Mr Fairfull pleaded guilty to:

• one count of making false and misleading statements, contrary to ss 1041E(1) and 1311(1) of the Corporations Act 2001, and
• one count of dishonestly using his position as a director to gain an advantage, contrary to s 184(2) of the Corporations Act 2001.

ASIC’s investigation found that Mr Fairfull provided false information about the company’s revenue and income to investors and misused company funds for personal benefit.

Mr Fairfull first appeared in the Downing Centre Local Court on 8 November 2024.