ASIC bans directors of closed parent company of SMSF firm

Mr Williams and Mr Raftery were also directors of Endeavour Securities (Australia).

In March 2019, the Federal Court of Australia wound up Linchpin Capital after it found it had contravened multiple provisions of the Corporations Act.

ASIC said it banned Mr Williams, Mr Daly and Mr Raftery for their roles in the operation of managed investment schemes by Linchpin and Endeavour, and found that they each:

• failed to act in the best interests of the members of the Investport Income Opportunity Fund (IIOF); and
• used their position as officers of the companies to gain an advantage for other persons and cause detriment to IIOF members. 

“Mr Williams, Mr Daly and Mr Raftery did not understand the importance of the duties of directors to protect members of the managed investment schemes and, as a result, their conduct put significant amounts of other people’s money at risk,” ASIC said.

ASIC said its banning decisions were made in November 2019, of which Mr Williams, Mr Daly and Mr Raftery each subsequently appealed to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT).

They applied for a stay of the decision and a confidentiality order preventing ASIC from publishing information about the banning order until the decision had been reviewed by the AAT.

However, on 29 April 2020, ASIC said the AAT heard the applications for stay and confidentiality orders for each of the applicants.

On 27 May 2020, the AAT dismissed the applications for stay and confidentiality orders by Mr Williams, Mr Daly and Mr Raftery.

ASIC said the hearings for the review of the banning decisions have not yet been listed for any of the applicants.