Court orders wind-up of unregistered investment scheme
The Federal Court has ordered the wind-up of an unregistered investment scheme involving SMSF investors after the court made declarations it had contravened the Corporations Act.
In a public announcement, ASIC stated that the Federal Court has ordered the winding up of an unregistered managed scheme operated by Chris Marco and AMS Holdings.
In September, SMSF Adviser reported that Mr Marco had been ordered to pay damages to the trustee of an SMSF after the SMSF initiated proceedings against him and AMS Holdings for unpaid returns and money held on trust.
Mr Marco operated as a private investor and traded in bank instruments. He invested in private placement programs (PPP) which required capital as proof of funds in order to trigger a line of credit enabling him to facilitate arbitrage transactions involving bank instruments in the US and Europe.
He began obtaining money from outside investors to increase his proof of funds to the required levels for trading.
Another SMSF, the Marks Auto Superannuation Fund, also took Mr Marco to court earlier this year over his failure to repay trust money.
The Federal Court has ordered that Mr Marco be permanently restrained from carrying on a financial services business without an Australian financial services licence or operating an unregistered managed investment scheme.
Justice McKerracher made declarations that Mr Marco, AMS and AMS as trustee of the AMS Holdings Trust (AMS Trustee) contravened the Corporations Act by operating an unregistered managed investment scheme when the scheme was required to be registered and carrying on a financial services business without holding an AFS licence.
The court has ordered that the scheme and AMS be wound up and has appointed Mr Robert Kirman and Mr Robert Brauer of McGrathNicol as liquidators, replacing Mr Cameron Shaw, Mr Richard Albarran and Mr Marcus Watters of Hall Chadwick, who are the current liquidators of AMS.
The court has also appointed Mr Kirman and Mr Brauer as receivers and managers over all the property of the defendants.
ASIC commissioner Cathie Armour said the decision is an important milestone in ASIC’s action against Mr Marco and AMS.
“Promoters of managed investment schemes must comply with the law, including the requirement to register the scheme with ASIC and hold an AFS licence. Where this doesn’t occur, ASIC will take action,” the corporate regulator said.
ASIC’s investigation into the conduct of Mr Macro is ongoing.
Miranda Brownlee
Miranda Brownlee is the deputy editor of SMSF Adviser, which is the leading source of news, strategy and educational content for professionals working in the SMSF sector.
Since joining the team in 2014, Miranda has been responsible for breaking some of the biggest superannuation stories in Australia, and has reported extensively on technical strategy and legislative updates.
Miranda also has broad business and financial services reporting experience, having written for titles including Investor Daily, ifa and Accountants Daily.
