Australian Securities & Investments Commission reports former adviser David Valvo sentenced for dishonest conduct involving $110,000 taken from clients’ superannuation

The Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) reported that former Sydney financial adviser David Valvo has been sentenced in the Downing Centre District Court for dishonest conduct in the course of carrying on a financial services business, after dishonestly obtaining $110,000 from clients’ superannuation accounts between July 2019 and January 2020. He was convicted and given a three-year prison sentence suspended on condition of entering a recognizance to be of good behaviour for five years, paying a $20,000 pecuniary penalty and making reparation to Oasis Fund Management Limited, trustee of the clients’ Wealthtrac superannuation fund, for its reimbursement of client losses. ASIC’s investigation found Mr Valvo submitted ad hoc adviser fee forms for 12 clients that purported to authorise withdrawals from their Wealthtrac superannuation accounts, despite the clients having no knowledge of the fees and not signing or consenting to the withdrawals. The investigation also identified fictitious client file notes allegedly recording client consent, and that most affected clients were also charged ongoing monthly fees at the time of the unauthorised withdrawals; the matter was prosecuted by the Commonwealth Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions following an ASIC referral. ASIC previously obtained and maintained court orders to restrain travel and preserve assets, and later had the asset preservation orders varied to enable payment of the $20,000 penalty and the reparation to Oasis Fund Management Limited, with those amounts paid.