ASIC bans adviser who stole from super accounts

David Valvo, the former financial adviser, amateur comedian and celebrity impersonator who was convicted on fraud charges last year, has been permanently banned by ASIC.

Valvo was convicted last year of engaging in dishonest conduct after he stole $110,000 from clients' Wealthtrac superannuation accounts under the guise of adviser fee forms that authorised the withdrawal.

These withdrawals were not approved, signed or consented to by the clients; the signatures were reportedly sticky-taped on the documents.

The conduct impacted 12 clients and allegedly involved the creation of fictitious client file notes detailing conversations which purported to record some of his clients' consent to having the fees withdrawn.

Valvo was also charging most of the impacted clients monthly ongoing service fees at the same time, ASIC said.

The conduct occurred between July 2019 and January 2020. During this time, he was a representative of the now-defunct Nextgen Financial Group, where he joined in September 2013 and left in September 2021.

In 2023 ASIC was successful in having his assets frozen and he was barred from leaving the country. At that time, it was said he had tried to obtain as much as $750,000. In 2024, he was charged with 12 counts of dishonest conduct.

In May 2025 he was handed a three-year suspended sentence on the basis that he complies with a good behaviour bond for five years, pay a $20,000 fine, and make reparations to Oasis Fund Management.

Interestingly, in 2019 Valvo appeared on an episode of A Current Affair claiming that he himself had been the victim of a scam around the same time he was dipping into clients' super.

Valvo said he lost $50,000 through a fake trading platform. His family and friends also lost money from the scam.

He told the program that he had been "in the [financial planning] game for 35 years" and if an "influential financial adviser" like him couldn't spot a scam then "Joe Blow out there hasn't got a hope in hell."

While he was an adviser, Valvo was also performing as an MC, stand-up comic and celebrity impressionist. According to a talent site, he has over 40 years' experience and continues to work as both today.

Valvo is permanently banned from providing any financial services, controlling a financial services business, or working within a financial services business.

This article first appeared on Financial Standard

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