Retirement
Illegal super withdrawals see SMSF adviser banned
A Western Australian man has been banned from providing financial services or engaging in credit activities for eight years after he illegally provided people with early access to their superannuation.
Illegal super withdrawals see SMSF adviser banned
A Western Australian man has been banned from providing financial services or engaging in credit activities for eight years after he illegally provided people with early access to their superannuation.
Max David Goldenberg, the sole director of Perth-based Superfunded, had been found by ASIC to have been enabling people to use their superannuation savings to buy a home, despite not holding an Australian financial services licence or an Australian credit licence or acting as an authorised representative of another licensee.
The Superfunded business was forcibly wound up by ASIC in 2018 after it was found to be encouraging customers to set up SMSFs to facilitate the illegal early release of super to buy homes.
Superfunded customers were gaining access to retirement funds through a scheme that saw their SMSFs invested into the Superfunded Loan Investment Trust, which would provide home-buying deposit funds to clients.
ASIC reported that Mr Goldenberg “had been involved in a contravention of financial services legislation and is not adequately trained, or competent, to provide financial services as he demonstrated a lack of professionalism, integrity, judgement, knowledge and diligence”.
The commission also found that the sole director “had been involved in a contravention of credit legislation and is not a fit and proper person to engage in credit activities, as his conduct does not match the attributes demanded of a person engaging in credit activities”.
As a result of an investigation into the man’s conduct, ASIC found that Mr Goldenberg is likely to contravene both financial services law and credit legislation again, which is why the eight-year ban was instigated.
Mr Goldenberg’s associate and the sole shareholder of the Superfunded Trust, Mark Goldenberg, was previously also banned from financial services and sentenced to three years of imprisonment for the misuse of investor funds to the value of $1.5 million.
It's the second person in as many days to feel the full force of ASIC's investigative powers, after a former NAB branch manager yesterday pleaded guilty to home loan application fraud.
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