Watchdog liquidates WA investment groups
The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) has moved on a case involving two investment companies channeling about $2.7 million of West Australian investors’ money into companies developing hangover cures and an adhesive film for glass that made it bulletproof.
ASIC found that Chase Capital Management and Leadenhall Funds Management (neither of which are connected to the financial services conglomerate of a similar name) had set up the scheme and used the investors' money illegally, as no prospectus had been lodged to ASIC or made available to investors.
Louis Nilant, a representative of accountants Clout and Associates, has been appointed liquidator by Justice Owen of the Supreme Court of Western Australia to the two companies, which are allegedly registered in the Carribean and the Isle of Man.
The investment schemes had apparently other offshore links as US$1.375 million of the West Australian investors' money has been paid to entities operating businesses in Lagos, Nigeria.
Nilant will also be presiding as liquidator over schemes run by the investment companies deemed illegal, promoted by David Llewelyn Hicks, Irene Anne Percy and Jamie Jo Sims.
The securities watchdog called on the liquidator to terminate the investor schemes and have investor interests determined and converted into cash.
ASIC alleges that the promotional material produced by the investment companies estimating returns of up to 25 per cent were misleading and without basis.
Recommended for you
Financial Services Minister, Stephen Jones, has assured the cost and time to enter the financial advice profession will soon be halved, as shadow treasurer Angus Taylor pledges to reach 30,000 advisers.
The positive results of the latest financial adviser exam have helped the advice profession reach 15,600 yet again, according to Wealth Data analysis.
Financial advice firms have told Adviser Ratings they are planning to increase their compliance spend by almost a third, including on enhancements to their cyber security which ASIC has identified as an enforcement priority.
The digital advice platform is officially launching into the financial advice sector, offering up its services to practices as a means of engaging with the next generation of clients.
