In early 2016, Avanteos received legal advice that it did not have authority to deduct fees from superannuation members after their death, according to ASIC. Despite this, Avanteos did not update its disclosure statements and continued deducting these fees until May 2018, ASIC stated.

“During the period 6 January 2016 to 1 May 2018, disclosure statements for 18 superannuation products issued by Avanteos were defective, as they failed to tell superannuation fund members they would be charged adviser service fees after their death,” ASIC said.

“As a result of the offending, 499 deceased members with funds in these superannuation products were charged almost $700,000 in fees by Avanteos when it was not entitled to do so. Avanteos has remediated all affected customers.”

ASIC stated that this matter is the the first criminal prosecution under s1021J(1) of the Corporations Act.

“It is an offence for the preparer of a disclosure document or statement to not take reasonable steps to ensure that a defective disclosure document is not distributed or is not accompanied by information that corrects the deficiency,” the corporate regulator stated.

The matter is being prosecuted by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions after an investigation and referral by ASIC.

The 18 charges were filed on Wednesday in the County Court, Melbourne, and the matter is next listed for sentencing on 1 June 2022.