Watchdog unmasks phoney bonds scammer
A Central Coast businessman has become the first Australian to be charged with offences relating to giving phoney international bonds to investors, according to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
ASIC has placed Alan Dash, of Berkeley Vale on a two-year good behaviour bond after pleading guilty to the charge of inviting an investor to subscribe for a prescribed interest while not being a public corporation.
Alan Dash, as a director of the House of Cunningham, a company that offered "International Private Placement Bonds" to investors, was one of three promoters of the scheme that raised $1 million from 65 investors.
According to ASIC, he persuaded one woman to invests $24,000 in the bonds by promising her astronomical returns amounting to $US8 million.
ASIC NSW Director Lucienne Layton says the regulator is prepared to take strong action against phoney schemes.
"If a prospective investor had checked the ASIC web site they could have discovered that this scheme did not have a prospectus, which is a warning sign to anyone thinking of putting money into an investment scheme," she says.
"A good rule of thumb is that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is."
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