5-year ASIC ban for Linchpin director
The former director of Endeavour Securities and Linchpin Capital, Paul Nielsen, has been banned by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) for five years.
The regulator announced it had banned Nielsen from providing financial services for the five year period after having in March obtained orders from the Federal Court against Linchpin and Endeavour for contravening multiple provisions of the Corporations Act while operating two managed investment schemes both called Investport Income Opportunity Fund.
ASIC said it found Nielsen’s conduct in approving the investment of funds of the Investport Income Opportunity Fund in related entities constituted multiple contraventions of the Corporations Act.
It said that in particular, Nielsen had failed to act in the best interests of members of the Investport Income Opportunity fund and used his position as an officer of the companies to gain an advantage for other persons and cause detriment to members of the fund.
ASIC found Nielsen did not understand the importance of the duties of a director to protect members of registered schemes and, as a result, his conduct put significant amounts of other people’s money at risk.
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