ASIC confirmed on Thursday (18 November) that Gordon local and current general manager of Accord Partners Ezzat-Daniel Nesseim pleaded guilty to five criminal offences including dishonestly providing three backdated wholesale client certificates to the regulator in an attempt to persuade it to cease or modify inquiries and giving false answers and information to ASIC.
Mr Nesseim, who was permanently banned from providing financial services on 12 March 2018, also pleaded guilty to making use of evidence he knew was fabricated in a hearing with an ASIC delegate and giving false testimony in the hearing.
Following his ban in 2018, Mr Nesseim was also permanently banned from engaging in credit activities on 19 July 2019 after being found “not to be a fit and proper person to engage” in credit activities.
The offences carry penalties of up to 10 years’ imprisonment.
Mr Nasseim has been granted conditional bail and will be committed to the Sydney District Court for sentence.
The matter is adjourned for mention on 10 December.
So did this guy just dig himself a huge hole by trying to provide the backdated soph investor certificates? Were ASIC looking at him previously?
So the executives at Sterling who acted dishonestly, paid promoters 10% commissions and resulted in many clients losing significant amounts of money get a pass from ASIC yet Mr Nesseim is named, shamed and soon to be fined and potentially jailed. Both cases are bad, but in Sterling there are clear victims of the actions of Sterling, yet ASIC is protecting them. Maybe someone at IFA might ask the direct question to ASIC why they have done absolutely nothing to these executives in comparison to the actions they have taken against Mr Nesseim?
The industry needs a new slogan: Financial advice – custom-made for the adviser’s reality.
Wow! IF only he had a remediation bill of $2,000,000,000. He would have got spanked with a wet lettuce and allowed to continue.
While I can not condone this behaviour, the penalties available to be handed out to individual financial advisers are astonishingly heavy-handed compared to other corporation act offenses.
Another one bites the dust…
naughty Mr Nesseim. If only he was an institution, it would’ve been a slap on the wrist and play on..
Absolutely – that democracy for you