On Tuesday, ASIC announced that banned adviser Nizi Bhandari has been charged with engaging in dishonest conduct in the course of carrying on a financial services business and providing unlicensed personal financial product advice.
Mr Bhandari, from Bundoora in Victoria, was an authorised representative of The Australian Dealer Group between November 2017 and December 2020, an AFS licensee that helped consumers to find lost superannuation and consolidate their superannuation accounts.
He was also the sole director, responsible manager and key person under The Australian Dealer Group’s AFS licence over the same period.
ASIC alleged that, between January 2019 and March 2020, Mr Bhandari provided seven consumers with personal financial product advice that neither he nor The Australian Dealer Group was authorised to provide.
The corporate regulator also outlined a number of allegations regarding false statements about superannuation, including that Mr Bhandari had encouraged 15 consumers to tell their super funds that they were not working, had permanently retired, or were working less than 10 hours per week to enable them to access their super when they were not entitled to.
He also claimed to have told 15 consumers that they could access their super based upon having reached preservation age when he knew that those consumers also had to be retired or working less than 10 hours per week in order to have such access.
ASIC said that, on the occasions where consumers allegedly followed Mr Bhandari’s advice, his business received fees.
Mr Bhandari received a permanent ban from the corporate regulator in March last year.
The matter, which is being prosecuted by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions after an investigation and referral by ASIC, is next listed for mention on 4 October in the Magistrate’s Court of Victoria.
The maximum penalty for an individual found guilty of engaging in dishonest conduct in the course of carrying on a financial services business is between 10 to 15 years’ imprisonment, a fine of $945,000, or both.
Additionally, the maximum penalty for an individual found guilty of providing unlicensed personal financial product advice while providing financial services on behalf of a person who carries on a financial services business is five years’ imprisonment, a fine of $126,000, or both.
Big deal. The big licensees were exposed for many serious wrongdoings and had BILLIONS in remediation costs. The shareholders have footed the bill while management got to keep their bonuses and no one has been held to account criminally. It beggars belief!
Congratulations ASIC. You are prosecuting someone who ‘helped’ 15 people access their super when they shouldn’t have…but you have done nothing to stop advisers from large organisations or industry super funds from recommending people move everything to their own products. You have not prosecuted one person for the fees for no service scandals.
Great to see you concentrating on the big issues.
Now ASIC… you now need to go after all of the unlicensed telephone operators at Real Insurance and other similar entities who are providing insurance advice.
Another nail in the coffin of the financial advice industry. How many more?