Former Forex.com Director Sentenced in AU$181,000 Scam Case

Brendan Gunn, a former director at GAIN Capital's Forex.com and ex-CEO of Invast Financial Services, has been sentenced in the Local Court of New South Wales for dealing with AU$181,000 he had reasonable grounds to suspect were proceeds of crime. The funds are believed to have come from an offshore cryptocurrency investment scam that targeted Australians.

Arriving late to the hearing on Wednesday, Gunn received a 12-month imprisonment sentence, the maximum available for a summary prosecution of this offence. He was released immediately upon entering a $3,000 recognizance requiring good behaviour for 12 months. He pleaded guilty in January 2026.

A Crypto Firm, 22 Bank Accounts, and AU$181,000 in Cheques

From December 2018, Gunn was a director of Mormarkets Pty Ltd, trading as Coinshype, which accepted deposits from Australians for cryptocurrency and other purported investments. Between January 2019 and May 2020, 22 bank accounts were opened in Mormarkets' name across six financial institutions. Banks repeatedly told Gunn they had received complaints linking funds to fraud or suspicious activity, and all accounts were eventually closed.

When two accounts were shut between March and May 2020, Gunn received two bank cheques totalling AU$181,000 and sent them to an associate, forming the basis of the criminal charge. ASIC Chair Sarah Court said Gunn ignored clear warnings. “By continuing to deal with those funds he helped move money taken from Australians,” she said.

An FX Industry Veteran

Gunn spent six years at GAIN Capital's Forex.com as Director of Global Client Services for Asia-Pacific from 2006 to 2013. Japanese broker Invast Securities recruited him to establish its Australian subsidiary Invast Financial Services, where he secured the AFSL licence and served as CEO until 2015. From 2016 to 2020, he ran FX news site The Industry Spread, which he sold in 2020. He was briefly associated with GMT Markets in 2018 before joining Mormarkets. Gunn is the estranged brother of Olympic breakdancer Rachael “Raygun” Gunn.

A Broader Scam Crackdown

The matter was prosecuted by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions after an ASIC investigation. The CDPP referred Gunn to the Downing Centre Local Court, which set sentencing for 10 February 2026. The international criminal network involved likely scammed thousands of Australians out of millions of dollars. ASIC said the sentencing is part of a broader push that has removed more than 25,000 scam and phishing websites since 2023. In the first three months of 2026, ScamWatch and ReportCyber recorded 60,657 scam reports and AU$248.3 million in losses.

What Retail Investors Should Know

Scam operations can involve people with legitimate financial industry backgrounds. Australians can verify a firm's licence by searching ASIC's professional registers online. Requests to send money to multiple bank accounts that change over time, or pressure to invest quickly, are common warning signs.