Regulator puts brakes on US money roadshow
By Rebecca Evans
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has interjected with an American investment roadshow operating around Australia to ensure attendees do not receive unlicensed financial advice.
ASIC has obtained undertakings from the American speaker John Burley and the promoter of the seminars — Pow Wow Events — not to provide financial advice in relation to the stock market or other financial products at the seminar.
The two seminars in the series presented by Burley include Winning the Money Game and Automatic Wealth. The former runs for three hours, and the latter, three days, with investors paying up to $5,000 to attend.
The seminar organisers have also agreed to correct the representations made in the promotional material that Burley would be providing financial product advice in relation to the stock market and/or other financial products during the seminar, and in future not to represent that they will provide financial product advice, whether though specific recommendations, general advice or the provision of training, in contravention of the Corporations Act.
The promoters complied with their commitment to ASIC, reading a statement pursuant to the undertakings at the start of the first seminar last week.
This is the second instance in as many weeks investment seminar promoters have been pulled up by the authorities for allegedly misrepresenting promotional material.
Vision Pursuit and Giann & Giann agreed to the consent orders following allegations by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and ASIC that the pair’s promotion of the Robert Allen Millionaire Matrix Seminar, which was held in Sydney recently, was misleading and/or deceptive.
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