The banning related to Jason Richard Poser, who was convicted of stealing funds from his clients’ SMSFs. These funds were payments used to satisfy the client’s SMSF tax obligations.
Poser formerly held a senior role at SMSF specialist firm SuperGuardian and was responsible for the management of around 500 funds. He prepared tax returns and activity statements for these clients.
The 34 counts of aggravated theft relate to Poser stealing $2,172,733.57 from 33 victims. The charged offending occurred between May 2020 and August 2022.
As part of his role, Poser would inform his clients of the money payable to the ATO as part of their tax obligations. However, when the client paid the ATO, he did not submit the activity statement or tax return to the ATO.
The client’s payment was therefore considered by the ATO to be a credit. Subsequently, Poser then logged onto the ATO client portal, changed the clients’ banking details to his personal banking details, and then requested a refund of the credited amount to his own bank account.
The ATO would then transfer the money to his bank account, believing it was being returned to the client.
The amounts he stole ranged from around $20,000 to $400,000. The stolen money was used to place thousands of bets, with Poser making more than 26,000 sports bets between January and October 2022 alone.
Losses incurred by Poser’s victims were repaid in full by SuperGuardian within 12 months of the fraud first being detected.
In August 2024, he was convicted of aggravated theft under s134 of the Criminal Law Consolidation Act and sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment. He will be eligible for parole in July 2028.
Under the Corporations Act, ASIC may permanently ban a person from providing financial services if they are convicted of fraud which includes offences involving dishonesty.
Poser has been banned permanently from:
· providing any financial services
· performing any function involved in the carrying on of a financial services business, and
· controlling an entity that carries on a financial services business.
The banning took effect from 1 August 2025.
Poser’s banning has been recorded on ASIC’s banned and disqualified register and he has the right to appeal to the Administrative Review Tribunal for a review of ASIC’s decision.
