ASIC permanently bans financial adviser after court conviction



Following his conviction in the Magistrates Court of Victoria, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has permanently banned Christos Papaioannou from providing financial services.
On 29 March 2012, Papaioannou was found guilty by the Magistrates Court of obtaining money by deception, and of one count of attempting to obtain money by deception.
ASIC stated that Papaioannou was subsequently sentenced to prison for 15 months, with the sentence wholly suspended for a period of 18 months.
The fraud convictions concern his conduct as an authorised representative of BDO Kendalls Wealth Management, as it was then known.
Victorian police charged that Papaioannou had withdrawn, without authorisation, funds totalling $226,881 from several of his clients' self-managed superannuation funds.
Papaioannou has the right to appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for a review of ASIC's review.
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