ob体育 has permanently banned Mr Ahmed Saad of Glenroy, Victoria, from providing financial services for dishonestly obtaining money from client retail superannuation fund accounts for the purposes of operating a scheme providing clients with illegal early access to their superannuation.
The banning follows an ob体育 investigation into Mr Saad鈥檚 conduct as an authorised representative of Apogee Financial Planning Limited (Apogee) and through his business Saad Wealth Management Pty Ltd (Saad Wealth).
ob体育鈥檚 investigation found, between October 2016 and September 2017, Mr Saad had breached various financial services laws, including that he had:
- Engaged in聽dishonest conduct on approximately 164 separate occasions illegally聽obtaining funds between $1,000 and $28,000 from client superannuation聽accounts for a total of $1.4 million from Nulis Nominees Australia Limited聽(Nulis), the trustee of the MLC Super Fund, and rebated those funds to his聽clients;
- Engaged in misleading聽and deceptive conduct by falsifying figures and details in client聽statements of advice and adviser remuneration fee forms provided to Nulis聽and Apogee; and
- Failed to act in the聽best interests of his clients and had not provided them with appropriate聽advice.
On 11 December 2018, ob体育 found Mr Saad breached financial services laws and was not of good fame and character.
Mr Saad has the right to lodge an application for review with the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
ob体育鈥檚 investigation is ongoing.
Background
In March 2017, after identifying an increase in Mr Saad鈥檚 and Saad Wealth鈥檚 revenue, Apogee and Nulis identified large adviser fees charged to the superannuation accounts of Mr Saad鈥檚 and Saad Wealth鈥檚 clients.
Mr Saad and Saad Wealth, of which Mr Saad was the sole director, were authorised representatives of Apogee from 10 April 2012 until 16 October 2017. In October 2017, their letter of authority was revoked by Apogee.
Subsequently, a report to ob体育 was made about Mr Saad鈥檚 conduct.