A former Adelaide financial adviser has pleaded guilty in the Adelaide Magistrates’ Court to two counts of falsifying company books.
A statement from ASIC says Tai Thanh Nguyen was convicted on both counts and placed on recognisance in the sum of $1,000 to be of good behaviour for two years.
The commission says that Nguyen admitted to falsifying seven documents relating to two of his clients by inserting client signatures and by adding dates to documents. He falsified documents between February 2010 and December 2018.
It says his offending occurred while he has an authorised representative of GWM Adviser Services and Interprac Financial Planning.
In 2019, ASIC permanently banned Nguyen from providing financial services (see: Adviser Banned for Dishonest Conduct). The regulator said, at the time, it found that he had:
- Dishonestly backdated advice documents to clients
- Incorrectly witnessed binding nomination of beneficiary forms
- Created or modified documents on client files produced to ASIC
- Attempted to induce a client to mislead ASIC
In its latest statement ASIC adds that in sentencing Nguyen, Magistrate Nitschke stated that it was a serious matter to falsify company records and the company records “…must reflect accurately the truth of the situation.”
Magistrate Nitschke further stated that the falsification of such records “…is a breach of trust of those who you’re engaged to act for.”
ASIC notes that Nguyen was charged on 24 June 2022, following an ASIC investigation and that the matter was prosecuted by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions after a brief and referral from ASIC.
