The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) banned Mr Fox — director of Fox Capital and authorised representative of Responsible Entity Services Ltd — from providing financial services or being involved in carrying on such a business for a period of eight years for contravening financial service laws.
ASIC found that Mr Fox breached financial service laws by making false and misleading statements and engaging in “misleading and deceptive” conduct in relation to financial products.
According to the regulator, Mr Fox set up RAIC Pty Ltd (now known as Fox Capital) in 2010 and offered consumers investment opportunities such as units in the Pleasure Point Mine Unit Trust and Plazrok Investor Trust.
He also offered consumers the opportunity to invest in various property developments through the Retirement and Investment Centre and RAIC Capital.
Mr Fox also offered several property investments including the Victoria Bundamba Investment Unit Trust, the Blackstone Victoria Group Unit Trust, and the Riverview Development Loan Trust (aka the Child Street Property Trust) between 2017 and 2018, where all investments expired without the investors receiving their return of capital.
He represented to several investors that they could roll over their investments in older property schemes into the Pleasure Point Mine Unit Trust, on similar terms to their existing investment, ASIC stated.
However, those investors never received certificates or appeared on the Unitholder Register after accepting the offer.
Furthermore, Mr Fox represented that he had gifted investors equity through shares in Pleasure Point Mine Pty Ltd, where investors, once again, did not receive certificates or appear on the Pleasure Point Mine Shareholder Register.
ASIC alleged that Mr Fox was unfit to engage in financial services, not adequately trained or competent to provide financial services, and was likely to breach financial service laws based on:
• Mr Fox’s lack of formal qualifications and industry experience
• Misrepresentations made by Mr Fox to potential investors about authorisations held by various entities
• Mr Fox’s track record of incomplete and unsuccessful investment offerings
• Mr Fox’s misuse of Plazrok Investor Trust funds
• Misrepresentations made by Mr Fox to ASIC
He currently has the right to appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for a review of the regulator’s decision and his banning has been recorded on ASIC’s banned and disqualified register.
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