Unlicensed Forex trader Daniel Farook Ali has faced the Brisbane Magistrates Court charged with eight counts of fraud totalling $977,000, after being extradited from Poland and arrested following an ASIC investigation, the regulator said today.

ASIC alleges that between May 2016 and November 2017, Mr Ali dishonestly used funds provided to him by investors for trading and investment purposes for unauthorised purposes, including to buy real estate and luxury cars for his family members and related companies, and to pay returns to other investors.

Further, the regulator alleges that, in some cases, the funds provided to Mr Ali by investors had come from investors’ self-managed superannuation accounts.

Mr Ali departed Australia on 8 May 2018, in the midst of ongoing civil proceedings commenced by ASIC against him and during an ongoing ASIC investigation into his conduct. Following an application by ASIC, a warrant for Mr Ali’s arrest was issued by a Queensland magistrate in December 2020, before Mr Ali was arrested in Poland in November 2021.

Following Australia’s request to Poland for Mr Ali’s extradition, the Polish Government granted his extradition in July 2022 after Mr Ali consented to being extradited.

Mr Ali appeared in Brisbane Magistrates Court on 18 August 2022 and was remanded in custody to appear again on 2 September 2022.

The matter is being prosecuted by the CDPP following the referral of a brief of evidence from ASIC.