The Administrative Appeals Tribunal has upheld the banning of Melbourne based financial planner Joshua Fuoco from providing financial services for five years for engaging in dishonest and deceptive conduct between 2005 and 2008.
According to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s (ASIC’s) investigation, Fuoco was an authorised representative of Elite Equities — a financial planning business associated with the Dollarforce Group — and recommended various financial products offered by the group during this period.
ASIC found that in some cases Fuoco did not have a reasonable basis for the advice that he gave and provided his clients with defective disclosure documents, failing to disclose remuneration details for himself and Elite.
Clients invested through Dollarforce Group in various property-related investments, including a loan program from which investors were to receive interest payments of between 10 per cent and 14 per cent.
After receiving complaints and information from investors and members of the public, the regulator launched an investigation that resulted in the wounding up of eight businesses associated with the Dollarforce Group.
