Former Financial Advisor In Australia Charged With 19 Counts Of Fraud

Tom Burroughes

29 September 2016

A former financial advisor in Australia, Gabriel Nakhl, has appeared in the Local Court of New South Wales yesterday on 19 charges brought by the country's financial regulator of engaging in dishonest conduct with investor funds.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission alleges that Nakhl, of Illawong, New South Wales, knowingly engaged in dishonest conduct in relation to twelve investors by: misleading them about the investments he would make on their behalf and on behalf of their self-managed superannuation funds, including how he would invest their money and the risks and returns of the investments he recommended; using money provided to him by investors, including money from investors' self-managed superannuation funds, for purposes other than those he said he would use it for; telling investors that their investments were performing well when this was not the case; and attempting to cover-up and conceal his wrongdoing.

The alleged conduct occurred between March 2009 and March 2011 while Mr Nakhl was an authorised representative of Australian Financial Services (in liquidation) and from about March 2011 to about September 2013 while he was the sole director of SydFA Pty Ltd (in liquidation).

The charges were brought following an ASIC investigation.

Nakhl did not enter a plea but asked for an adjournment to obtain legal advice, ASIC said in a statement.
The matter was stood over until 11 October 2016. The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions is prosecuting the matter.