ASIC swoops on unregistered schemes
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has applied to the Victorian Supreme Court to close 22 unregistered investment schemes and their corporate promoters and trustees, including ABC Fund Managers.
ASIC has also applied for declarations that ABC Fund Managers, Wharton Partners and other companies have promoted the schemes in breach of the Corporations Law.
ASIC alleges that many of the financial transactions involved in the establishment, management and operation of the schemes were illegal.
The scheme records suggest that in excess of $105 million was invested in the 22 schemes from 1995 to at least 1998.
ASIC Victorian director commercial operations Debra Russell says the schemes did not operate with ordinary investments or commercial activities but instead existed merely for the purposes of facilitating taxation deductions.
"It depends on the size of the fund, but we believed that they [ABC Funds Managers] needed to be registered," she says.
"They had more than 20 members and were raising funds without a prospectus."
The matter was adjourned until March 9, 2001.
Recommended for you
The central bank has released its decision on the official cash rate following its November monetary policy meeting.
ASIC has cancelled the AFSL of a Melbourne-based managed investment scheme operator over a failure to pay industry levies and meet its statutory audit and financial reporting lodgement obligations.
Melbourne advice firm Hewison Private Wealth has marked four decades of service after making its start in 1985 as a “truly independent advice business” in a largely product-led market.
HLB Mann Judd Perth has announced its acquisition of a WA business advisory firm, growing its presence in the region, along with 10 appointments across the firm’s national network.
