Wattle scheme adviser faces court
A former Canberra financial planner linked to failed investment scheme, the Wattle Group, has pleading guilty to charges of breaching sections of the Corporations Law, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has revealed.
Marshall John Cobb has pleaded guilty in the Canberra Magistrates Court to 13 charges of making investment opportunities available in breach of the fundraising provisions of the then Corporations Law.
ACT Magistrate Shane Madden recorded convictions on all 13 charges and released Cobb on a recognisance of $2,000 to be of good behaviour for two years and to pay a penalty to the Commonwealth of $10,000 within a two-year period.
Magristrate Madden heard that as a director of Tax Invest Australia Pty Ltd (Tax Invest) Cobb offered investments in schemes associated with the failed Queensland-based Wattle Group investment scheme.
Between 1995 and 1998 Tax Invest placed approximately $12 million from about 420 clients, located in Canberra and districts, into the Wattle scheme. In 1999, ASIC banned Cobb from being a representative of either a dealer in securities or an investment adviser for one year, as a result of these activities.
In his sentence Madden says it was clear that Cobb permitted investments to proceed contrary to advice from the securities dealer he was associated with and his own expertise in financial matters.
The matter was prosecuted by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.
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