Perth-based Max Goldenberg was the sole director of Superfunded, a business that was forcibly wound up by ASIC in 2018 and that encouraged customers to set up SMSFs in order to facilitate the illegal early release of their super to buy a home.
Customers of Superfunded gained access to their retirement funds via a scheme where their SMSF would invest in the Superfunded Loan Investment Trust, which would subsequently provide funding for home buyer deposits.
The corporate regulator found Mr Goldenberg was engaged in credit activities and providing financial services without a licence, and that he was not adequately trained or competent to provide such services.
It also found Mr Goldenberg was not a fit and proper person to engage in credit activities.
Prior to the banning of Mr Goldenberg, ASIC had successfully applied to the Federal Court in March 2018 to appoint a liquidator to wind up Superfunded, after an investigation found the company had breached the Corporations Act and provisions of the SIS Act that relate to schemes encouraging the early release of super.
In addition, the corporate regulator found the company was not managing the Superfunded Loan Investment Trust or servicing the investment loans within the trust, had inadequate books and was unlikely to be able to pay its debts.
Mr Goldenberg’s associate and sole shareholder of the Superfunded Trust, Mark Goldenberg, was previously banned from financial services and sentenced to three years in prison for misusing $1.5 million of investor funds.
Wow, what a deterrent! It is illegal and they would have made plenty of money with this scheme. Now they are broke after taking the funds. He and Mark should be sharing a cell together.