ASIC has taken civil action against an unlicensed company director for raising over $30 million from clients’ personal accounts or self-managed super funds (SMSFs) towards numerous unregistered managed investment schemes.
The corporate regulator has applied to the Federal Court to disqualify director Sasha Hopkins and wind up his company The A Team Property Group, five of the investment schemes, and associated companies and trusts used by Hopkins.
It alleges Hopkins and The A Team Property Group, neither of whom hold an Australian Financial Services Licence, offered clients property investment opportunities either personally or through their SMSF into a “joint venture” development program for the purchase and development of real estate.
An investigation revealed that Hopkins and The A Team Property Group promoted at least 25 property development joint ventures, which raised over $32 million from clients.
In June 2022, ASIC obtained interim orders to freeze the assets of Hopkins, The A Team Property Group, and Sash Investment Holdings Pty Ltd.
It now seeks to disqualify Hopkins and undertake civil penalties for allegedly conducting a financial services business without an AFSL and operating unregistered managed investment schemes in breach of the law.
It also seeks an order to appoint a liquidator and wind up The A Team Property Group and the five special purpose vehicles and schemes that remain on foot, including;
- Ludlow St Hamilton Pty Ltd
- Hunter Hopkins Project 2 Pty Ltd
- Hunter Hopkins Project 6 Pty Ltd
- Hunter Hopkins Project 7 Pty Ltd
- Hunter Hopkins Project 8 Pty Ltd
Hopkins has provided undertakings in relation to the disbursement of sale proceeds from the sale of property developments managed by the five special purpose vehicles above.
Last month, the Federal Court ordered that an unlicensed financial adviser Monica Kaur be permanently restrained from carrying on a financial business and wound up her unregistered managed investment scheme.
Kaur operated a managed investment scheme without a licence or the required registration, encouraging some 300 investors to establish SMSFs and advised them to invest in property investments and developments set up by MKS Property, of which she and her husband Sadu Singh were directors at various times.
