The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has permanently banned the director of Protect Ensure following the cancellation of the Australian financial services licence of the advice provider.
ASIC permanently banned Lee Robert Robin, of Camp Hill, Queensland from providing any form of financial services after it found he engaged in conduct that was misleading or deceptive while issuing unsecured fixed interest notes in Protect Ensure. He was also found to not have complied with financial services laws.
Protect Ensure was placed into liquidation on 12 June 2015 after its licence was cancelled in December of last year.
ASIC said it took the action after finding Protect Ensure had failed to have its accounts audited and updated to the satisfaction of the regulator and also found there was material uncertainty over its financial position.
Robin had been a director of since April 2006 with ASIC finding that between mid 2013 and late 2014 he had engaged in dishonest, misleading or deceptive conduct and failed to notify ASIC of breaches or of the licensee’s financial position.
ASIC stated Robin had:
• behaved dishonestly by depositing clients’ monies into an entity associated with the Protect Ensure group, using those funds for personal expenses and making payments toother noteholders.
• engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct in failing to provide an Information Memorandum, and failed to properly disclose that client funds would be pooled with other monies in the Protect Ensure business
• failed to lodge accurate annual accounts on time, together with a corresponding auditor’s report
• failed to report these significant breaches to ASIC
• failed to know the financial position of Protect Ensure
• failed to ensure Protect Ensure had adequate financial resources to provide its services and supervise its representatives
• failed to ensure Protect Ensure complied with conditions of its Australian Financial Services (AFS) Licence.
ASIC also stated that Robin was ‘not of good character’, was unsuitable to provide financial services and did not maintain the standards expected of a provider of financial services. He has the right to appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for a review of ASIC’s decision.
