Property investment scheme saga continues
Queensland-based Max Development Group has become the latest company to be placed in liquidation for operating an illegal property investment scheme.
The Supreme Court of Queensland found that the individuals behind the scheme, brothers Kevin and Warren Maxwell, had contravened the Corporations Act by operating an unregistered managed investment scheme for around five years and providing financial services without the necessary licence.
The court appointed Andrew Fielding and David Whyte of PPB Accountants as liquidators of Max Development Group (formerly known as the Glen Group), associated organisations Jasmine Ink and Macquarie Longford Estate and their illegal investment scheme. The court also granted injunctions permanently restraining the brothers from working in the financial services arena.
The court actions follow an Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) investigation, which found the scheme, allegedly in operation since 2002, garnered around $4 million from 60 investors for the purchase of properties in Queensland and Tasmania.
The Maxwell brothers and their associated companies helped some investors raise funds to invest in the scheme by arranging loans and the roll-over of superannuation benefits into self-managed funds they set up on investors’ behalf.
Many investors became concerned about the scheme and complained to ASIC when they did not receive interest payments or the return of their capital as set out in their agreements and were unable to contact company representatives. It is too early yet to determine what recourse may be available.
This is the latest in a spate of property-related investment scheme collapses in the past year-and-a-half, including Westpoint, Fincorp, Australian Capital Reserve (ACR) and John West & Associates.
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