Over 18 days in November 2024, a Sydney financial adviser quietly transferred $89,932 from the SMSF bank accounts of former clients into his own — using signatory access he had been legitimately granted to manage those funds. The scheme went undetected until it didn't. Abdullah Popal of Rouse Hill, NSW has since been convicted of fraud and permanently banned from the financial services and credit industries by ASIC, with the ban taking effect from 2 June.
Popal was convicted on 11 February of two counts of dishonestly obtaining a financial advantage by deception under section 192E of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW), sentenced to 12 months imprisonment to be served by way of intensive correction in the community, and ordered to perform 220 hours of community service.
Popal operated as a director of Wealth Street Pty — a former authorised representative of financial services licensees — from May 2009 until August 2024. During that time, he advised clients on purchasing property within self-managed superannuation funds and assisted in setting up their SMSF bank accounts. To allow Wealth Street to manage those accounts, Popal was made a signatory — the same access he later used without authority to transfer client funds into his own accounts.
Regulators have been flagging the risk: in May, the ATO and ASIC warned that scammers are encouraging Australians to establish SMSFs and access retirement savings early — exploiting the same structural vulnerability at the heart of the Popal case.
Popal is permanently prohibited from providing any financial services or engaging in credit activities, controlling any entity in the financial services or credit space, and performing any function — including as an officer, employee, or contractor — for such an entity. The ban is recorded on ASIC's banned and disqualified register, and Popal retains the right to apply to the Administrative Review Tribunal for a review.
The banning is among a series of enforcement actions as ASIC intensifies its focus on fraud across the sector. Under the Corporations Act 2001 and the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009, ASIC has the power to permanently ban individuals convicted of fraud.
ASIC has been sharpening its broader fraud warnings to the industry. In May, Commissioner Simone Constant warned financial services firms that existing controls "are more likely to be tested, more often, and under greater pressure," urging businesses to "act now, and act with discipline, to strengthen the cyber resilience fundamentals that underpin your business."
For mortgage brokers, the Popal case is a specific prompt: clients who have been referred to SMSF advisers — particularly where account signatory arrangements are in place — may warrant a proactive check-in on how that access is being managed.
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