An Aussie court has sentenced Daniel Ali, the former director of DanFX Trade Pty Ltd, to seven years and three months of imprisonment after he pleaded guilty to fraud. Ali had already spent two and a half years in prison since his arrest in November 2021.

A Fraudulent FX Scheme

The sentencing followed the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) investigation into Ali, who operated an unlicensed foreign exchange trading business. Ali pled guilty last week to five counts of fraud. He misappropriated AU$771,303, which was invested by investors for trading and investments.

The announcement by ASIC today (Monday) elaborated that, between May 2016 and November 2017, Ali dishonestly used the investors’ funds to purchase a luxury vehicle for a personal associate, buy real estate for himself and his wife, and pay other personal expenses. Furthermore, he used the funds to pay returns to others, making it a classic Ponzi scheme .

In the sentencing, the judge highlighted that Ali’s offences involved a level of sophistication over a period of time as he exploited the trust of his victims, adding that “his dishonesty contributed to particularly devastating financial positions for those victims.”

A Serial Fraudster

Interestingly, Ali has an history of committing fraud as he was sentenced to two and a half years in prison in October 2013 for fraud charges. However, his sentencing was suspended after he served six months in prison. It is to be noted that the previous conviction was brought by the prosecutors in Queensland without any involvement of ASIC .

The Aussie financial market regulator’s action against Ali started in 2017 with a ban on him from providing financial services or engaging in credit activities. The regulator also obtained a court order seizing the assets of Ali and his company and subsequently obtained orders to wind up the scheme.

ASIC further discovered that Ali managed an unregistered investment scheme without any licence and also managed DanFX and two other related companies despite being disqualified due to his prior conviction, leading to a permanent restraining order against him. He was arrested in November 2021 in Poland and then extradited to Australia in August 2022.