Advisers’ role ‘under investigation’ in Dollarforce scheme
A number of advisers allegedly advised clients to take out reverse mortgage loans to invest in a failed Victorian property investment scheme, the assets of which have been frozen by the corporate regulator.
Van Moulis, practice group leader of legal firm Slater and Gordon, which has launched a class action against the Dollarforce Group of Companies on behalf of 80 investors, said some investments could be sourced to advisers.
However, Moulis told Money Management he could not say whether any advisers could be implicated in the pending class action until Slater and Gordon had completed its investigations.
Many investors are understood to have taken out reverse mortgages to finance their investments in Dollarforce, taking out structured loans that they believed would deliver returns of between 10 and 14 per cent.
Dollarforce directors Clestus Weerappah and Andrea Hawkins raised a total of $43 million from investors, $23 million of which the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) alleged has not been returned.
ASIC accused the duo of using the money to finance other investors’ interest payments or transferring it to other accounts they controlled.
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