The Federal Court has ordered Ascent Investment and Coaching Pty Ltd and its unregistered managed investment scheme be wound up.
In orders that were largely redacted by the Court, Justice Michael Feutrill said it was to be wound up on “just and equitable grounds”.
Ascent, run by Michael Jefferson Dunjey of Applecross, Western Australia, owed approximately $149 million to clients and held approximately $4 million in assets as at December 2021, when freezing orders were obtained.
The Court’s decision followed a successful application by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) to wind up Ascent in March 2022 and provisional liquidators being appointed in June 2022.
ASIC was concerned that:
- Ascent was operating an unregistered managed investment scheme that was required to be registered;
- Ascent was producing little business-generated revenue and being sustained almost entirely through borrowings;
- Ascent’s primary means to make payments on loans was the money it received from further loans;
- Ascent had substantial liabilities in comparison to its assets; and
- Ascent’s financial records were inaccurate and incorrect.
In December 2021, ASIC obtained interim orders from the Federal Court to freeze the assets of Ascent and Dunjey in order to help protect investor funds while the investigation was continuing. Dunjey was also asked to surrender his passport and be restrained from departing Australia.
Matthew Donnelly and Sean Holmes of Deloitte Financial Advisory Pty Ltd had been appointed as liquidators to Ascent and the managed investment scheme and as appointed receivers over the Ascent Trust.
ASIC’s investigation into Ascent continued.
