ASIC has appointed a liquidator to wind up 13 companies involved in a possible Ponzi scheme.
ASIC has obtained orders to wind up 13 companies that have been associated with the possible operation of a Ponzi-style scheme and has appointed Simon Wallace-Smith of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu as liquidator.
Wallace-Smith will be required to identify, collect and secure the assets of the companies for the benefit of investors and creditors.
The companies are associated with Peter van de Steeg, Jonathan Ezzy and Peter Berlowitz of Victoria and Scott Walker of Western Australia.
The scheme has affected more than 100 investors who have contributed in excess of $16 million.
In April this year ASIC sought to freeze the companies' assets, which were then still estimated at $14.6 million.
ASIC said it was concerned the defendants may have been providing or involved in conducting a financial services business without the necessary Australian financial services licence and without providing the required adequate disclosure to investors.
The regulator was also concerned investors may have been misled about the nature of the arrangements they were entering into and that the defendants may have breached various provisions of the Corporations Act.
ASIC continues to investigate the activities of the defendants.
The two non-consecutive alphabetic letters encountered most often last week caused more controversy than the underlying policy they represented, Wouter Klijn writes.... read more »
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