Wellington Capital PIF/Octaviar (MFS) PIF

[seamisty]

Investors upset at Trio fraud sentence
Michelle Rafferty

Updated August 12, 2011 13:49:07
Retirees and investors who were robbed of about $180 million are devastated by the two-and-a-half-year prison sentence handed down to the man who stole their money.

The sentence was handed to Shawn Richards in the New South Wales Supreme Court in Sydney this morning.

The 36-year-old Canadian national used complex tax havens to steal the money he conned out of investors during the four years he worked at Trio Capital, even keeping $1 million in an off-shore account for himself
Full Story:http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-08-12/trio-fraud-conviction/2836754/?site=newcastle

 

[seamisty]

http://www.nsxa.com.au/ftp/news/021724279.PDF

 

[NOR]

http://www.nsxa.com.au/ftp/news/021724279.PDF

seamisty.........lost for words.......ha ha ha ha

 

[Harald]

seamisty.........lost for words.......ha ha ha ha

That's a pity and nothing to laugh about!!

 

[NOR]

That's a pity and nothing to laugh about!!

nor here ...harald i am very sorry u read it that way no nothing to laugh about .........but cannot u see what jh has put to us today &every day is a big joke

 

[NOR]

nor here ...harald i am very sorry u read it that way no nothing to laugh about .........but cannot u see what jh has put to us today &every day is a big joke

hi all nor here.......SEAMISTY..... i hope i did not afend u for without you this forum is dead ....i ..we hang on to yourevery word

 

[seamisty]

Investors beware: lax laws let spruikers loose
Adele Ferguson and Simon Johanson
August 13, 2011
Investors left reeling from the past week's sharemarket gyrations face losing millions more from finance and property schemes supervised by the corporate regulator ASIC.

Lax corporate and financial regulations allow holders of nearly 5000 Australian Financial Services Licences to ''sublet'' them to an unknown number of ''authorised representatives'' to enable them to run financial planning and share trading or ''shadow broking'' businesses

Full article:http://www.theage.com.au/business/investors-beware-lax-laws-let-spruikers-loose-20110812-1ir2d.html

 

[selciper]

Advice: be sure to sound remorseful when you help lose many millions of of dollars of investors' money. (Some reactions to the Trio Capital employee's sentencing.) SMH today.

http://www.smh.com.au/business/trio...9-years-over-stolen-super-20110812-1iqr4.html

 

[To Trusting]

I'm not exactly sure where the PIF fits into this mess. Can someone please enlighten me. Thanks in advance.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/5441090/OPI-Pacific-horror-losses-become-clear

 

[JohnH]

I'm not exactly sure where the PIF fits into this mess. Can someone please enlighten me. Thanks in advance.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/5441090/OPI-Pacific-horror-losses-become-clear

Go to the first post in this thread. Breaker1 describes our connection far more succinctly than most.

 

[selciper]

ABC radio's Background Briefing this week investigates auditors' roles. Excellent 40 minute coverage of this important subject. Program is repeated tomorrow on Radio National at 7.10 pm EST. Podcast available now on this link.

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/backgroundbriefing/stories/2011/3291026.htm

 

[Sutho81]

So is there any new official newss yet when Castlereagh will have another crack at getting the fund?

I suspected it could be a lengthy process getting the register from Armstrong, but was hoping for at least a news release stating that work is still being done.

 

[Cookie1]

ABC radio's Background Briefing this week investigates auditors' roles. Excellent 40 minute coverage of this important subject. Program is repeated tomorrow on Radio National at 7.10 pm EST. Podcast available now on this link.

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/backgroundbriefing/stories/2011/3291026.htm

Well done, Selciper. I've just finished listening to the podcast; it's mind-blowing reality what auditors get away with vs what they are accountable for. It's obviously a problem to be addressed globally and it seems that the "4 big auditors" are all involved in such practices...so much conflict of interest. The corporate watchdogs seem to be intimidated by the very people/institutions they are supposed to be monitoring. We can only pray justice will prevail for investors who have been misled by corporations and their auditors while the corporate watchdogs sit idly by.

Cookie1

 

[simgrund]

Auditors amiss?!/!

From SMH
Online acclaim for Sullivan yet to click
Scott Rochfort
August 15, 2011

CBD
<em>Illustration by John Shakespeare</em>

Everyone loves a former chief ... Phil Sullivan's name is coming up roses. Illustration by John Shakespeare

The founder of Gold Coast property development concern City Pacific, Phil Sullivan, seems to have a level of popularity not enjoyed by the former chief executives of other failed investment schemes.

Well, that is if you go only by the comments posted on a website set up by a group of anonymous investors seeking to take management control of the City Pacific-founded First Mortgage Fund.

Days after Sullivan said on the website that he would give ''whatever unpaid assistance'' to the group calling itself Protect PFMF, the tributes have been pouring in.
Advertisement: Story continues below

''Great effort,'' said one unit holder commenting on Sullivan's efforts to dump Balmain Trilogy as the managers of the fund containing more than $900 million of now-eroded deposits.

''Delighted to hear from you - the 'words of truth' that was sadly missed during the past three years of darkness and misery - that you've recovered health and are still willing to help us all,'' said another testimonial. ''I never doubted Phil, and I do not doubt him now,'' said another.

CBD was unable to find a negative word on the website about Sullivan.

The adulation shown towards Sullivan comes despite unit holders seeing the value of their units in the fund sink already by more than 70 per cent. They have also managed to get only 5 ¢ back (as a capital return) for each of their $1 units. Imagine Sullivan's level of popularity had unit holders actually received a positive return.

In his posting Sullivan rejected the ''ludicrous suggestions … that City Pacific was operating a 'Ponzi scheme'.''

Unit holders have been unable to withdraw their deposits since early 2008, more than a year before Balmain Trilogy secured enough support from unit holders to have City Pacific dumped as the manager of the fund.

BACKER PUZZLE

Sadly, CBD was unable to find many of its own tributes about Sullivan among the unit holders it has contacted.

''We were absolutely amazed and insulted when we received that anonymous form,'' said one unit holder about the correspondence she received from Protect PFMF. ''How dare they,'' she said, disgusted that the group had declined to identify who its backers were.

''Is this an attempt by Phil Sullivan to regain control over the fund? How is this possible?'' asked another unit holder. Sullivan's sudden reappearance on the scene comes about three years after he left City Pacific to ''allow the next generation of management to lead the business forward''.

Sullivan blamed the problems in the First Mortgage Fund on the difficulty in securing banking finance and being forced to ''sell down … assets to repay the banks''.

''This forced sell-down of assets resulted in a reduction of the perceived values of all property by valuers and auditors and the consequent impairments and reduction in our fund unit holding values,'' Sullivan said.

SIN OF OMISSION

The City Pacific founder made no mention of how more than 90 per cent of the $920 million in loans lent to property developers were in default by the end of 2008, more than six months before Balmain Trilogy gained management control.

Sullivan departed only seven weeks before the end of 2008.

Among the fund's toxic loans was the $264 million loaned to property developments run by City Pacific. In the last half of 2008, the fund booked more than $80 million in impairments on these related party loans. And by the end of 2008, the $1 units in the fund had been written down to 61 ¢.

''Only when the world's finances and banking system hit the wall with the onset of the banking credit squeeze and the global financial crisis did City Pacific see rough water, along with every other mortgage and property-based fund, worldwide,'' Sullivan said in his version of history.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/onli...et-to-click-20110814-1it0l.html#ixzz1V4x0EOrY

 

[seamisty]

hi all nor here.......SEAMISTY..... i hope i did not afend u for without you this forum is dead ....i ..we hang on to yourevery word

Hi Nor, No way was I offended, unfortunately we are all in limbo. ASIC stuffs around as usual, throwing scraps to the media making out they are pro active but are ineffective as ever. Our regulators are pathetic,backed up by their media statements::"former Astarra Asset Management (AAM) director

Shawn Richard to jail ruled that Richard was entitled to a discounted sentence because of the assistance he provided authorities following the collapse of its responsible entity Trio Capital.

New South Wales Supreme Court judge Peter Garling on Friday sentenced Richard on two counts of dishonest conduct, sending him behind bars for a minimum of two years and six months and an additional 15 months good behaviour bond.

But he ruled that Richard was entitled to a 37.5 per cent discount on the sentence because of "utilitarian value of his plea of guilty" and the help he gave authorities.

"Richard is guilty of serious crimes of a high order," Garling said.

"They were carefully considered and planned, they were concealed, they continued over a period of nearly four years and they led to significant financial losses in excess of $26 million."

"Richard knew what he was doing was dishonest, that he was providing misleading information to those entitled to accurate information and that in respect of the criminality encompassed by charge one, he received $1 million personally, which was a very significant personal benefit."

"But Richard is entitled to a discount because of the utilitarian value of his plea of guilty and because of the assistance he has provided to authorities."

ASIC Chairman Greg Medcraft welcomed the sentence as an effective deterrent against dishonest conduct by those in positions of trust."::

ASIC is a nothing more than a tax payer token gesture of a group of well paid individuals that spit out regular media releases justifying their existanc, achieving nothing more than a bunch of muzzled dogs at the end of the day IMO. Seamisty

 

[seamisty]

So is there any new official newss yet when Castlereagh will have another crack at getting the fund?

I suspected it could be a lengthy process getting the register from Armstrong, but was hoping for at least a news release stating that work is still being done.

Sutho81, sorry, no news, nothing from Castlereagh Capital that I am aware of. I hope every one is still making complaints to ASIC etc re our predicament. Seamisty

 

[Duped]

...

ASIC is a nothing more than a tax payer token gesture of a group of well paid individuals that spit out regular media releases justifying their existanc, achieving nothing more than a bunch of muzzled dogs at the end of the day IMO. Seamisty

Oh they're more dangerous than that seamisty. Creating a perception of safety is causing the good ship Australia to steam full speed towards that iceberg.

Increasing the velocity of money makes it easier to collect taxes. (And government employees get paid from taxes.) And Aussie $ saved and jammed in superannuation (i.e. investment capital with heavy restrictions on it's application) doesn't flow as freely.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velocity_of_money

Also, remember that public servants don't have skin in the Superannuation game like private sector workers. They're safely in defined benefit schemes that pay e.g. 7 * Final Average Salary. Think that more people on the pension (after their super investments are wiped out) means less money for pubic servants? Well, they won't be competing for the future tax $ to fund their retirement lifestyle. Not since the Future Fund was set up. Skimming $ (billions ?) every year off the tax take. Oh and the Future Fund competes with our funds for investment opportunities and the best quality staff. The usual justification is that Public Servants earn less up front. Hmmm - lets look at the ASIC numbers.

From pages 65-67 of http://asic.gov.au/asic/pdflib.nsf/LookupByFileName/ASIC_AnnualReport-2009-10.pdf/$file/ASIC_AnnualReport-2009-10.pdf

In 08-09 it looks like 716 of the 1656 staff (43%) were paid more that $82K. Or at least 26.6% of them were paid more than $94,700. How's that compare to the nation as a whole?

From table 9 of http://www.ato.gov.au/corporate/content.aspx?menuid=0&doc=/content/00268761.htm&page=8&H8

14% of all taxable incomes were above $82,690

10% of all taxable incomes were above $94,159

I'm not sure if the ATO numbers include Aussies who didn't file a tax return or if the ASIC numbers are pro rata for part timers but these numbers paint a very telling counter-argument. I doubt these published ASIC salaries include super.

 

[Duped]

...

Sullivan blamed the problems in the First Mortgage Fund on the difficulty in securing banking finance and being forced to ''sell down … assets to repay the banks''.

''This forced sell-down of assets resulted in a reduction of the perceived values of all property by valuers and auditors and the consequent impairments and reduction in our fund unit holding values,'' Sullivan said.

....

''Only when the world's finances and banking system hit the wall with the onset of the banking credit squeeze and the global financial crisis did City Pacific see rough water, along with every other mortgage and property-based fund, worldwide,'' Sullivan said in his version of history.

That's GOLD simgrund.

WHEN the tide goes out, we see who isn't wearing any swimmers. (I.e. "when" not "if") And its the RE's like the one Phil worked in that dacked the investors. The credit squeeze was always going to happen. It's called 'cycles'. Try finding a book about finance /economics that doesn't mention 'cycles'.

It's the AFSL flag waving REs that kept directing investors across the train tracks. When the train finally came, it was us who where caught on the tracks.

As Swan said about us PIF investors at the London School of Economics - we were caught in a market linked investment. Ummmmm can I contribute to Comsuper's PSS from the private sector then? I'm only too happy to tie my pay scale to an EL or SES band in accordance with the responsibilities I have.

 

[simgrund]

That's GOLD simgrund.

WHEN the tide goes out, we see who isn't wearing any swimmers. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------/QUOTE]
Further into that CBD chuckle:

BACKER PUZZLE

Sadly, CBD was unable to find many of its own tributes about Sullivan among the unit holders it has contacted.

''We were absolutely amazed and insulted when we received that anonymous form,'' said one unit holder about the correspondence she received from Protect PFMF. ''How dare they,'' she said, disgusted that the group had declined to identify who its backers were.

''Is this an attempt by Phil Sullivan to regain control over the fund? How is this possible?'' asked another unit holder. Sullivan's sudden reappearance on the scene comes about three years after he left City Pacific to ''allow the next generation of management to lead the business forward''---------------------

Duped, it appears that Jenny F*MR*C*da either started an avalanche of SUPPORT groups with a motley PIF Reaction Group or she may have pliagiarised from Potect PFMF.
So whose trademark is it???
C'omon you anonymous masses; start queuing up for recognition.

Them roses in the field sure are real,

 

[selciper]

We seem to be enduring one of those periods when there is little or no news to cheer us up. To me it's extraordinary that the widely reported EGM stacking incident appears to have died a quick death. The press is filled with quotes about 'moral vacuums" (the UK riots) but meetings' stacking is a forgotten subject despite its implications.