Theta AM to pay $2m penalty
Liquidated Theta Asset Management and its managing director Robert Marie has been found to have contravened the Corporations Act by issuing five defective product disclosure statements (PDSs) for the Sterling Income Trust.
The Federal Court in Western Australia ordered Theta to pay a penalty of $2 million and Marie to pay a penalty of $100,000. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) said it would not seek recovery of the penalty against Theta as doing so would decrease the funds available for distribution by the liquidator of Theta to its creditors.
Marie was also disqualified for four years from managing corporations after contravening the Corporations Act and failing to comply with duties as a managing director of Theta.
In handing down his judgement Justice McKerracher said the circumstances “involved catastrophic losses sustained by investors”.
Between 20 May, 2016, to 30 April, 2018, $16,749,974 was raised from retail investors pursuant to the defective PDSs.
Recommended for you
The FSCP has announced its latest verdict, suspending an adviser’s registration for failing to comply with his obligations when providing advice to three clients.
Having sold Madison to Infocus earlier this year, Clime has now set up a new financial advice licensee with eight advisers.
With licensees such as Insignia looking to AI for advice efficiencies, they are being urged to write clear AI policies as soon as possible to prevent a “Wild West” of providers being used by their practices.
Iress has revealed the number of clients per adviser that top advice firms serve, as well as how many client meetings they conduct each week.