Crypto Con: Aussie Adviser Banned 10 Years Over $9.6 Million Scam

Australia’s financial watchdog has slapped a decade-long ban on a Sydney-based adviser after she sent client funds into a crypto operation flagged as risky. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) says Glenda Maree Rogan moved A$14.8 million ($9.6 million) into a platform already marked as unlicensed. Clients, family and friends reportedly lost out when their money vanished into what ASIC calls a likely scam.

Adviser Accused Of Misleading Clients

According to ASIC, Rogan pitched a “high-yield fixed-interest account” between May 2014 and February 2024. She worked as an accountant and financial adviser at Fincare firms in Sutherland and Wollongong. But rather than place the funds in secure accounts, multiple transfers went into her personal and company bank records. Many of those funds then converted to crypto and sent on to Financial Centre, a platform ASIC warns “should not be trusted.”

Funds Routed Through Personal Accounts

Based on reports, Rogan moved money from March 2022 through June 2023. During that 16-month stretch, she sent A$14.8 million into personal and corporate accounts before pushing most of it into crypto. Investigators say she must have doubted the platform’s legitimacy by October 2022, yet went ahead anyway. Family members and close friends who invested under her advice are now caught up in an ongoing probe.

ASIC announced the 10-year prohibition took effect on June 6, 2025. Under the ban, Rogan cannot provide or control any financial services business. The regulator said she is “not a fit and proper person” and likely to break financial services laws if allowed to continue. Her license expired on February 8, 2024, and she has been unlicensed since then. Rogan can appeal through the Administrative Review Tribunal, but for now her name sits on ASIC’s banned and disqualified register.

This move comes amid a wider push against shady crypto operations in Australia. On June 3, AUSTRAC rolled out new rules and set transaction caps for crypto ATMs to stem scams. In April, inactive crypto exchanges were told to de-register or face cancellation. And in February, AUSTRAC took action against 13 remittance firms and exchanges, with more than 50 under review for potential breaches. Regulators are making clear that unlicensed services will face rapid enforcement.

Investors are being urged to check ASIC’s register before handing over cash. High promised returns, especially in crypto, should raise red flags. Anyone hitting a supposed “guarantee” might be staring at an unregulated scheme. While ASIC continues its inquiry into Rogan, this case underlines just how careful people must be when a trusted adviser steers them toward something that sounds too good to be true.

Featured image from FinanceAsia, chart from TradingView