Jonathan West has been banned from providing financial services for six years after an ASIC investigation into his private managed investment business.
The ban comes after proceedings were brought by ASIC in the Supreme Court of South Australia and follow a decision by Justice Gray on 9 May 2008.
ASIC found that between June 2003 and March 2007, John West and the business John West & Associates (JWA) operated a managed investment scheme (MIS) that was not registered and did not hold an Australian financial services licence.
JWA also did not provide a product disclosure statement to potential investors and made offers or accepted offers from retail clients to acquire interests in the scheme when it was not registered.
Despite being put on notice in May 2005 that the scheme was contravening the Corporations Act 2001, West continued to operate the scheme.
ASIC also found that West intended to circumvent a restraining order made by the Supreme Court in March 2007 by continuing to solicit funds from investors in the scheme.
The managed investment business engaged in a scheme of borrowing money from members of the public to on-lend to others on the security of mortgages. It involved more than 60 investors with loans and contributions totalling more than $15.2 million.
