Melbourne tax adviser banned for three years
A director of a taxation business in Melbourne has undertaken not to act as a representative of a securities dealer or investment adviser or hold a proper authority from a dealer or adviser for three years.
Adam David Reeves, director of Reeves Taxation and Business Services, has also agreed not to apply for a dealer’s licence or investment adviser’s licence, or the equivalent AFS licence under the Financial Services Review Act for the three years after April 5 of this year.
The enforceable undertaking follows an investigation by theAustralian Securities and Investments Commission(ASIC) into Reeves’s promotion of investment in the Lifestyle Property Group, a property development and marketing company which has since failed.
The Lifestyle Property Group obtained money from investors to buy sites in Melbourne for residential developments. However, after an ASIC application in the Federal Court, 54 companies within the group were wound up in August 2000.
Reeves was found by ASIC to have breached the Corporations Act by giving investment advice to clients without being appropriately licensed, by making securities recommendations without a reasonable basis, and by failing to disclose to clients the commissions or fees that Reeves Taxation and Business Services would receive as a result of clients investing in the Lifestyle Group Property Developments Partnerships.
“ASIC will take action to protect investors from advisers who fail in their legal duties and obligations,” ASIC director of enforcement Jamie Orchard says.
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