Financial adviser charged with seven counts of falsifying company books

Financial adviser Tai Thanh Nguyen was charged on Friday with seven counts of alleged falsification of company books following an ASIC investigation.

According to the corporate regulator, Mr Nguyen operated a financial services business, Financial Wealth Advisers from around July 2005. He then acted as an authorised representative of GWM Adviser Services Limited from 6 December 2011 to 4 August 2015, before becoming an authorised representative of Interprac Financial Planning on 5 August 2015.

ASIC alleges that on seven occasions, between about February 2010 and December 2018, Mr Nguyen falsified company books while carrying out his financial planning and advice business.

The corporate regulator further alleges that Mr Nguyen inserted signatures and dates and altered documents relating to two of his clients, to look like he was compliant with his obligations as an authorised representative of the Australian financial services licensees.

The matter will proceed in the Adelaide Magistrates Court and has been listed for a further mention on 5 August 2022.

This is not Mr Nguyen’s first clash with the corporate regulator. Namely, in January 2019 he was permanently banned by ASIC after an investigation found he had dishonestly backdated advice documents to clients, incorrectly witnessed binding nominations of beneficiary forms, created or modified client files produced to ASIC and attempted to induce a client to mislead the regulator.

ASIC commissioner Danielle Press stressed at the time that financial advisers have an important responsibility to their clients and that ASIC would continue to take actions against those who breached those responsibilities.

“Financial advisers have a critical role to play in helping consumers make confident and informed decisions about financial products,” Ms Press said.

“They have an obligation to act in the best interests of their clients when providing advice and must adhere to ethical standards and conduct themselves with honesty and professionalism. ASIC will continue to take action where the conduct of financial advisers is inadequate,” she continued.

If found guilty of the current charges, the maximum penalty Mr Nguyen faces for each charge is 2 years’ imprisonment and/or 100 penalty units. When dealt with summarily the maximum penalty is 12 months’ imprisonment and/or 60 penalty units.