The former director of a responsible entity has been banned from providing financial services after being found to have failed its obligations under the Corporations Act.
The ban was put in place by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) after it found that David Hodgson, of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, who was director of Exalt Global Funds Limited failed in his duty to ensure that Exalt complied with its obligations as a Responsible Entity.
ASIC banned Hodgson for a period of two years while Exalt has requested is Australian Financial Services licence be cancelled after the regulator found that between March 2014 and July 2014 Exalt made misleading statements in Product Disclosure Statements relating to the the Paladin Monetizer Fund (PMF) offered by Exalt.
ASIC also claimed Exalt failed to keep proper financial records for the PMF, failed to lodge annual Profit and Loss statements and Balance Sheets for Exalt for the 2013 and 2014 financial years and failed to lodge Financial Reports, Director’s Report for Exalt and the PMF and audited Compliance Plans for the PMF over the same time period.
ASIC stated Hodgson had not initially registered the PMF and had relied on a fundraising exemption under section 708 of the Act.
As fund levels approached the limits of the exemption Hodgson then attempted to transition investors into a registered version of the PMF which was not successful causing the registered PMF to be unable to meet its compliance obligations with ASIC. Both versions of the PMF are no longer in operation.
