Wattle scheme back in the courtroom
Australia’s investment watchdog is continuing action in the failed Wattle Group scheme that rocked the investment industry last year.
Australia’s investment watchdog is continuing action in the failed Wattle Group scheme that rocked the investment industry last year.
Another four people have faced court on charges related to the scheme. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) alleges that Gold Coast businessmen Kevin Thomas Browne, Robert Murray Cooper, Lloyd Reginald Ross and Brian Michael Wood promoted investments in the Wattle Group to clients of Australasian Management Consultants.
ASIC believes they each promoted the Wattle Group in contravention of the Corporations Law and were involved in the conduct of a securities business without holding a securities licence.
The four men appeared in Brisbane Magistrates Court and the matter was adjourned to December 6.
On February 5 this year, Geoffrey Robert Dexter, who founded the Wattle Group, faced 64 charges brought by ASIC alleging that he induced people to invest in securities by making a promise or statement he knew to be misleading.
The loan scheme involved people lending Dexter money on the promise he would pay interest of 50 per cent per year. Dexter was also paying a fee of up to 50 per cent per year to brokers who intro-duced investors to the scheme.
ASIC says its investigations show that about $130 million had been advanced to Dexter by more than 2,700 investors, mainly from Queensland and New South Wales. His case is continuing.
The Foundation Group of Companies, which traded as the Wattle Group, was placed in voluntary administration in March last year.
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