Four years' jail on SMSF scam

A Victorian man has been sentenced to more than four years’ jail as a result of charges brought by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) relating to theft from self-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs).

The regulator said the man, Shaun White of Eltham, had been sentenced after the court heard an ASIC investigation revealed he had stolen $428,000 from the SMSFs.

White had subsequently pleaded guilty to nine counts of theft, two counts of aiding and abetting dishonest conduct in relation to a financial product, and one count of aiding and abetting the carrying on of a financial services business without a licence.

His wife, Nicole White, was fined $2,200 for aiding and abetting dishonest conduct in relation to a financial product.

The ASIC announcement said White had been a director of PFS Business Development Group, a company established to set up SMSFs for its clients, and that the defendant had encouraged clients to roll over their existing superannuation funds into their SMSFs as a first step to making investments.

It said a form signed by his clients to set up their SMSFs had contained a hidden power of attorney clause that had allowed White to illegally transfer money from their superannuation accounts into his own accounts.

The court was told that White had used the $428,000 he stole to support his business and for living expenses, which included the renting of an apartment on Melbourne’s Southbank.