Rahul Goel appeared before Perth Magistrates Court last week after the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) initiated a civil action against him.
ASIC alleged in court that the 31-year-old had engaged in dishonest conduct while carrying on a financial services business via his company AR Wealth and Finance Pty Ltd.
“Mr Goel acted dishonestly in relation to hardship and other applications to superannuation funds on behalf of his customers,” ASIC has alleged.
He was charged with four counts of dishonest conduct, with each offence carrying a maximum penalty of 15 years’ imprisonment if convicted.
The court has granted him conditional bail.
Mr Goel, who is an Indian citizen and Australian permanent resident, was asked not to leave the country and to surrender his passport.
Earlier, ASIC had informed the Federal Court of Australia that he obtained an exemption from the Australian Border Force to travel to India because of the ill-health of his mother.
“Vulnerable clients” include Aboriginal people
In a hearing on September 18, ASIC informed the Federal Court of Australia that it was conducting an investigation into suspected contraventions of the ASIC Act, the Criminal Code Act and the Corporations Act by Rahul Goel and his company.
They commenced the investigation following a report submitted by the superannuation fund Australian Super about the concerns it had about Mr Goel.
Source: Getty Images/Jennifer A Smith
In the report they alleged that he submitted a number of applications for the early release of superannuation funds on behalf of at least 67 persons, citing grounds of hardships.
The report of Australian Super, as well as the subsequent investigation by ASIC, have further alleged that Mr Goel or his associate misrepresented themselves as the clients, without any proper authority or awareness of the applicants.
It was also alleged that the email addresses or signatures used by Mr Goel in many of those applications were not the actual ones of the applicants.
Some forms also gave bank account details that were not the members' bank accounts. Instead, according to ASIC's investigations, they were bank accounts for Mr Goel or his associates ASIC alleged
The adviser allegedly paid out the amount after retaining a fee.
The court also heard that “several of these members [applicants] were Aboriginal people, some being residents of remote communities, who were potentially vulnerable to misconduct of the kind alleged.”
ASIC interviewed at least four of those applicants as part of their investigation, and found out that some people had ‘paid fees amounting up to $1,500’.
In one of the cases Mr Goel refunded the $1,300 fee to the applicant later.
ASIC had summoned Mr Goel also, in which he said that financial hardship applications had not been part of the services he provided but done out of goodwill only. He also told ASIC that he had refunded the fee initially collected.
