The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has charged four men in Victoria, including a former barrister, with money laundering offenses linked to moving the proceeds of a large-scale investment scam to cryptocurrency exchanges.
In a statement released Thursday, ASIC alleged that between January and July 2021, Dimitrios (James) Podaridis, Peter Delis, Bassilios (Bill) Floropoulos, and Harry Tsalikidis helped move funds gained from fraudulent bond and investment offerings.
"ASIC alleges that the four dealt with victim funds which were the proceeds of crime and were reckless as to whether those funds were proceeds of crime," the regulator said.
Podaridis and Floropoulos face 28 charges each of dealing in proceeds of indictable crime under multiple sections of the Commonwealth Criminal Code. Delis faces eight charges, and Tsalikidis has been charged with 12 offenses, including aiding and abetting the others.
Although ASIC is not alleging that the men operated the scam themselves, it says the group played a key role in processing victim funds. Those funds were allegedly transferred from Australian bank accounts to offshore accounts or converted into cryptocurrency.
The case underscores how investment scams are costing ordinary Australians hundreds of millions in lost savings every year. So far in 2025, Scamwatch has received more than 90,000 scam reports, amounting to roughly $98 million (Australian $147 million) in reported losses. Around half of those involved investment fraud.
In 2024, Australians lost nearly $213 million, or Australian $319 million, to scams, with fake investment schemes consistently ranking as the most damaging.
The specific scam in which the four men were charged Thursday used fake comparison websites and Facebook ads to lure victims. Investors were contacted by phone or email and sent high-quality fake prospectuses that closely mimicked materials from real financial services firms.
The phony products promised fixed returns between 4.5% and 9.5% over one to ten years.
ASIC has not disclosed how much money was allegedly laundered in this case or how many victims were affected, and did not respond to a request from Decrypt for clarification. The matter is scheduled for a committal mention on October 30, 2025.
It follows a string of recent enforcement actions by the regulator. Among them, Brendan Gunn, brother of Olympic breakdancer Rachel "Raygun" Gunn, was charged in March with one count of dealing with suspected proceeds of crime related to crypto fraud.
ASIC has also issued warnings to crypto ATM operators over rising fraud and money laundering risks, signaling a broader crackdown as financial crimes surge across digital platforms.
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