A week after the regulator appointed liquidators to oversee companies associated with McIntyre after their involvement in failed land banking schemes, ASIC has been successful in getting the Federal Court of Australia to permanently restrain the marketing and promotion of a proposed Pilbara property investment by Macro Realty Developments Pty Ltd (Macro) and made declarations that Macro, Property Tuition Pty Ltd and Education Holdings Pty Ltd (21st Century Education) had all breached various provisions of the Corporations Act by promoting and marketing the investment proposal.
Macro Realty Developments Pty Ltd, Property Tuition Pty Ltd and Education Holdings Pty Ltd are all associated with McIntyre.
The court action follows previously launched proceedings by ASIC against the companies in September 2015, relating to how the Pilbara project had been promoted.
According to ASIC, the project had been promoted using the tagline “Do you know how to buy Australian property, no money down?” and involved investors becoming a director and shareholder of a company, acquiring properties from Macro through this company and receiving a director's fee, but only after first having agreed that Macro would be the sole decision maker for the company.
In granting the permanent injunction against the promotion of the Pilbara project, Justice Jonathan Beach made declarations that the marketing and promotion of the investment proposal by the companies was misleading and deceptive, and that investors had been procured into breaching director's duties.
The features of the proposal found to have been misleading or deceptive included that the investment proposal was essentially risk free, that it required no money down or capital, and that there were no fees involved.
Justice Beach also found that 21st Century Education and others had provided financial product advice in circumstances where they weren’t licensed to do so.
ASIC commissioner Greg Tanzer said the action was part of the regulator’s push to clean up the investment sector.
“This is another significant outcome in ASIC's ongoing campaign to promote trust and confidence amongst investors. We will continue to deter this type of misleading and deceptive conduct,” he said.
