ASIC has commenced civil penalty proceedings in the Federal Court against fintech company Block Earner alleging it provided unlicensed financial services in relation to its crypto-asset-based products and that it operated an unregistered managed investment scheme. Block Earner offered a range of fixed-yield earning products based on crypto-assets under the names USD Earner, Gold Earner,...
Post
Former Tesla Motors Australia director pleads guilty to insider trading
Former Tesla Motors Australia Pty Ltd (Tesla Australia) director Kurt Schlosser, of Sydney, New South Wales, has pleaded guilty at the Sydney Downing Centre Local Court to two counts of insider trading. On 16 September 2020, Mr. Schlosser acquired 86,478 shares in the mining company Piedmont Lithium Limited after being informed, in his role as...
Post
Former CEO of van Eyk Research sentenced for breach of directors’ duties
Former van Eyk Research Pty Ltd CEO Mark Peter Thomas has been sentenced to one year and three months imprisonment, to be served by way of an Intensive Correction Order, for using his position as a director dishonestly with the intention of directly or indirectly obtaining an advantage for himself. As part of his sentence,...
Post
ASIC suspends FTX Australia’s AFS licence
ASIC has suspended the Australian financial services license of FTX Australia Pty Ltd (AFS license 323193) until 15 May 2023 after it was placed into voluntary administration on 11 November 2022. Until 19 December 2022, FTX Australia can continue to provide limited financial services that relate to the termination of existing derivatives with clients. On...
Post
Unlicensed CFD trader banned from providing financial services for 10 years
Mark Jennings, of Sunshine Coast, Queensland, has been banned from providing financial services and carrying on a financial services business for 10 years after he advertised guaranteed investment returns and traded Contracts for Difference (CFDs) using client funds when he was not licensed. Mr. Jennings, the former director of Suncoast Trading Pty Ltd (in liquidation)...
Post
ASIC accepts court enforceable undertakings from financial advisory firm
On 10 November 2022, ASIC accepted a court-enforceable undertaking from financial advisory firm Lasarith Pty Ltd, trading as ‘Succession Matters’, and its sole director and responsible manager, Adam Smith. Under the terms of the undertaking, Lasarith will cease operating its financial services business under its Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL) and commence the process to...
Post
Eight firms enter liquidation following FCA action
We have previously issued consumer warnings against the 8 firms. The Official Receiver is the liquidator of the 8 firms. The firms are: Cavendish Incorporated Ltd Cottesmore Associate Ltd Marvell Enterprises Ltd Grosvenor Associates Ltd Renaissance Advisory Ltd Falcon Financial Solutions Ltd Thestral Financial Services Ltd Semantic Business Services Ltd
Post
Husband and wife banned from providing financial services
Former financial adviser Richard Thomas Marshall has been banned from providing financial services for six years and his wife, Gwenda Jean Marshall, has been banned for three years. An ASIC delegate found Mr and Mrs Marshall carried on a financial services business without holding an AFS licence from July 2015 until May 2021. Mr Marshall...
Post
FCA seeks members for new Innovation Advisory Group
In July 2022, the Innovation department announced it was setting up a new advisory group to deepen Innovation’s engagement with the industry and inform the FCA’s forward-looking work program. The role of the Innovation Advisory Group is to: share the FinTech and RegTech sectors’ views on issues and opportunities for innovation in financial services and...
Post
Senate Economics Legislation Committee Budget Estimates 2022-2023 – Opening statement – November 2022
Opening statement by ASIC Chair Joe Longo at the Senate Economics Legislation Committee Budget Estimates 2022-2023, 9 November 2022. Check against delivery I am pleased to appear before the Committee once more and welcome Senator Walsh as the new Committee Chair. I am joined today by Deputy Chairs Sarah Court and Karen Chester, Commissioners Sean...
Civil rights law practice area legal advice is the application of abstract principles of law to the concrete facts of the client’s case.