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Richmond solicitor and accountant Christopher Malcolm Edwards has been banned from providing financial services for a decade after the corporate regulator found he operated without the required licence and advised clients to invest in companies he controlled.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) imposed the ban from 15 September 2025, preventing Edwards from providing financial services, controlling a financial services business, or performing any function within one for 10 years. The ban has been recorded on ASIC’s banned and disqualified register.
The regulator described his conduct as “particularly serious”, citing what it called an inherent and significant conflict of interest between his duties as a solicitor and accountant and his personal interest in raising funds for property developments in NSW and Queensland.
Edwards is appealing the decision in the Administrative Review Tribunal.
Clients allege hardship
The regulatory action comes amid mounting claims from current and former clients that they are owed millions of dollars invested through arrangements promoted by Edwards.
These former clients allege that funds rolled into Self Managed Superannuation Funds were subsequently invested into Edwards-controlled entities via “Deeds of Agreement”. According to ASIC, these deeds constituted debentures and therefore financial products under the Corporations Act.
One 74-year-old retiree, Karen Hedberg, former North Richmond Vet said she had invested $3 million in superannuation and struggled for months to obtain repayment or clarity about the status of her funds.
“Dear Chris, still no funds in the bank,” she wrote in one email last November. “I now have significant debt on several credit cards and am running low on what is available to live on. Could someone please explain what is happening and when funds will be available?” Extract from a letter written by Hedberg published in the Sydney Morning Herald on 16 February 2025.
Hedberg told the SMH she fears she may need to sell her home to survive.
Other clients claim collective losses of nearly $25 million. Several have lodged complaints with NSW Police, ASIC, the Tax Practitioners Board and the Australian Taxation Office. Edwards denies any wrong doing.
Property developments under scrutiny
Funds raised from clients were invested into property developments in NSW and Queensland, including projects in Gunnedah, Morayfield and Bundaberg.
La Trobe Financial, which holds mortgages over certain development sites, issued default notices last month requiring payment by late February. If unmet, the lender may appoint a receiver and sell assets.
ASIC has subpoenaed staff and clients as part of its investigation.
It is noted that Councillor Sarah McMahon, Deputy Mayor of Hawkesbury Council, is employed by Edwards. This statement is made purely as a matter of fact, and no allegation, inference, or assertion of wrongdoing is intended.
Community concern
The unfolding situation has sent shockwaves through parts of the Hawkesbury community, where Edwards has operated his business Christopher M Edwards Solicitors and Accountants for decades.
Family members of alleged investors have raised concerns about elderly residents facing financial distress, including individuals who have reportedly sold homes to fund care while attempting to recover superannuation savings.
