Former company director gets life ban

Former director of Australian Lending & Finance Corporation (ALFC) Moshe Mordechai has been permanently banned from providing credit and financial services after an Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) investigation found a history of serious fraud offences.

ASIC had also cancelled ALFC’s credit licence on the grounds that the company’s application was false and misleading.

Under the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009, the licence application process requires corporations to nominate a responsible person for the purpose of determining whether the company is competent to engage in credit activities.

ALFC listed a ‘John Frederick Kennedy’ as its responsible person, which ASIC found was an alias used by Mordechai.

According to statements listed in ALFC’s credit licence application, Kennedy had not been convicted of a criminal offence, been insolvent or been known by any other name, which the regulator also found was false.

Mordechai had been convicted of numerous fraud offences in 2007 and 2008, including possessing and using false credit and debit cards and false identification documents.

He had also been declared bankrupt in 2006 under the alias ‘Jamal Almostafa’.

According to the regulator Mordechai and ALFC have the right to appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for a review of ASIC’s decision.