Former NAB Adviser Imprisoned

A former NAB financial adviser has been sentenced to three years in jail, after he was permanently banned by the regulator from providing financial services and engaging in credit activities in June 2018.

Max Kiattisak Eung, of Tempe, New South Wales, was sentenced to three years imprisonment to be served by way of an intensive corrections order for two offences of obtaining financial advantage by deception of $166,500.

Eung dishonestly obtained a financial advantage of $166,500 from accounts held with MLC Limited and Nulis Nominees (Australia) Limited, between March 2016 and December 2016. The account holders who were his clients did not authorise withdrawal of those funds from their accounts.

In addition, while Eung was a NAB financial adviser he:

• Created false bank accounts in the names of clients using their confidential information
• Made withdrawals from client funds held in false bank accounts
• Impersonated his clients to attempt to avoid detection

Eung pleaded guilty to the two offences and admitted his conduct outlined in a Statement of Facts.

ASIC Commissioner, Sean Hughes, said, ’Mr Eung was trusted by his clients to manage their financial affairs. He breached that trust by using their confidential information to create false accounts as well as by accessing his clients’ funds to use for his own benefit.”

Eung was an authorised representative and financial adviser with NAB from 21 May 2015 to 20 December 2016 and a credit representative of a credit licensee from 14 September 2017 to 23 October 2017.

The matter was prosecuted by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions after a referral from ASIC.

This action is part of ASIC’s Wealth Management Project. As part of this project, ASIC has banned 60 advisers and three directors from the financial services industry. Three bannings are the subject of appeal.