An accountant, who was found to have been providing financial services without an Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL), has had an eight-year ban cut by two years on appeal.
An Administrative Appeals Tribunal heard that Dimitri Amargianitakis was a director of Vista Capital Pty Ltd (Vista) and Vista Capital Solutions Pty Ltd (VCS) from April 1992 until October 2011, and had created the Akis Finance Services Unit Trust to service a growing demand for finance.
Tribunal documents revealed that Amrgianitakis raised $36 million from investors through Vista from about 2000 to 2011, for property investments. When liquidators were appointed in August 2011, Vista owed approximately $32 million to investors.
On 16 November 2011, Amargianitakis lodged a debtor’s petition with Insolvency and Trustee Services Australia.
“Vista recommended to investors that they lend money to it pursuant to deeds of loan,” the Tribunal documents stated.
“Vista intended the recommendations to influence the investors to loan money to it, or could reasonably be regarded as being intended to have such an influence.
“Vista provided financial product advice and a financial service. Vista did so at all relevant times during which it did not hold an AFSL.”
The Tribunal reported that Vista did not give investors a Financial Services Guide or Statement of Advice, and noted that Amargianitakis was involved in a number of contraventions of the Corporations Act 2001. He also did not advise investors to take independent financial or legal advice.
While the Tribunal found that Amargianitakis had not acted dishonestly, and did not appear to have profited from the misfortune of clients who lost money through the Trust, it ruled that the Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s eight-year ban was “too long”, and ruled that it should be cut to six year years.
