Adviser given 10-year prison sentence by NSW court

Gabriel Nahkl was convicted by the District Court of NSW on eight charges, brought by ASIC, of engaging in dishonest conduct with investor funds, according to a statement.

The conduct affected 12 investors while Nakhl was a representative of Australian Financial Services Limited (in liquidation) and as sole director of SydFA Pty Ltd (deregistered), ASIC said.

The court found that Nakhl advised clients to set up self-managed superannuation funds and to invest their superannuation and other funds in products such as shares, managed funds and high interest rate bank accounts.

Rather than investing the 12 investors’ funds in these products, Nakhl used these funds 'as he pleased' and for his own purposes, ASIC said.

Nakhl then lied to the investors, telling them that he had invested their funds in accordance with his advice and that their investments were performing well.

In addition, Nakhl also tried to cover up his wrongdoing by having these 12 investors sign documents that supposedly authorised Nakhl to use the funds in the way he did.

These 12 investors allowed Nakhl to invest about $6.7 million on their behalf. Nakhl lost around $5.1 million of these invested funds.

“Mr Nakhl deliberately misled his clients and used their savings as he pleased. Clients should be able to trust their financial advisers,” said ASIC commissioner Sean Hughes.

“In this case, Mr Nakhl dishonestly and deliberately breached his clients’ trust. ASIC welcomes the sentencing decision handed down today.”

Adrian Flores

Adrian Flores is a deputy editor at Momentum Media, focusing mainly on banking, wealth management and financial services. He has also written for Public Accountant, Accountants Daily and The CEO Magazine.

You can contact him on [email protected].