The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has obtained orders in the Federal Court appointing a liquidator to wind up an unregistered managed investment scheme promoted by George Peat, a Darwin mortgage broker, of Wise Finance Pty Ltd.
The Court ordered that Stephen Duncan, of KordaMentha in Adelaide, be appointed liquidator of the scheme and the entities through which the scheme was promoted, GTS Pacific Pty Ltd, GTS Pacific (Australia) Pty Ltd, Esteemed Investments Pty Ltd, Esteemed Syndicate Pty Ltd, Transparent Investments Pty Ltd, Firstep Investments Pty Ltd and Peavar Investments Pty Ltd.
ASIC is concerned that Mr Peat and the companies may have breached the Corporations Act 2001 by failing to register the scheme, and by failing to provide the necessary disclosure documents required by entities seeking to raise funds from the public.
ASIC has stated that it took this action to protect the interests of investors who had invested money with the companies.
All seven of the defendant companies consented to the orders sought by ASIC.
Mr Peat promoted investments in the scheme to 57 investors, who were largely clients of his Darwin-based mortgage broking business, Wise Finance Pty Ltd, or friends or relatives of his clients.
The scheme related to the development, marketing, and sale of computer software known as ‘Elive2U’. The software being developed was designed to allow people to communicate via live video link through the Internet. A total of $1.7 million was raised through the companies liquidated for the unregistered scheme.