The court handed down the judgement earlier today, saying that it had agreed with the reasons for convicting former adviser Gabriel Nakhl on eight charges of engaging in dishonest conduct with investor funds.
Nakhl was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in March 2019 in the District Court of NSW after he was found to have advised 12 clients to set up SMSFs and invest their money in products such as shares, managed funds and high interest rate bank accounts. The funds, totalling $6.7 million, were then used for Nakhl’s own purposes.
Nakhl had lodged a notice of appeal against his sentence in March 2020.
According to court documents, Nakhl had appealed on the grounds that the original judge had “erred in her assessment that the offences were in the high range of objective seriousness”, that the offences had overlapping characteristics which did not justify the severity of the sentence, and that the total sentence was “manifestly excessive”.
However, the court found Nakhl’s case had failed to prove the first two appeal grounds, and his appeal was therefore dismissed.
Good. $6.7 mil theft he deserves it.
But what about the Bank Executives ripping off thousands of people and the bank shareholders reaping millions in bonuses???? Not even a slap on the wrist.
The Banks are having class action lawsuits against them. They are also leaving the industry because it’s too hot for them to handle. Dregs like Nakhl should serve as a warning to all individual advisers both institutionally aligned and not to dissuade them from stealing people’s bloody money!
Au Contraire – the reason Nakhl and other individuals adviser face greater penalties is that they cannot afford the high profile lawyers.
Bank = overcharge client/invest in own product = credit bank P&L account = share bonus alround = no direct responsibility = no consequences = buy boat/holiday home.
Individual adviser = overcharge client/invest in own product = credit business P&L account = total responsibility = in jail = no money.
Au Contraire ( I like that one ) what about middle management…., that are tasked with implementing the boards decision that then place unrealistic targets on advisers backs and say “best interest duty” let’s skip that part of the training can we. They are still doing that today.