David McWilliams faced court on Monday over allegations that $10 million in investor funds were diverted into high-risk crypto, property deals, and a luxury car.
ASIC
Australia’s ASIC removed both the AFS licence and credit licence of Freedom Wealth Services Pty Ltd while banning its adviser from the industry for a decade.
ASIC targets HSBC Bank Australia with an A$35 million fine over systemic failures in fraud controls, investigation delays and account restoration.
Australian institutional digital asset prime broker LTP has secured an AFSL from ASIC, enabling it to advise and deal in financial products for wholesale clients.
Australia’s Federal Court ordered record penalties of $300.2m against Union Standard, EuropeFX, and TradeFred after finding systemic unconscionable conduct.
Australia’s securities regulator has used its post-2024 FMI reform powers to declare the Brussels-based settlement provider has a “material connection” to Australia, pulling it inside the local licensing perimeter.
ICE ETF Hub today announced that it has been approved to enter the Netherlands and other European countries, as well as Australia. It’s now in 33 countries.
ASIC has cancelled the AFS licence of Global Pacific Solutions Pty Ltd. The regulator cancelled the licence since the firm no longer offers financial services.
The ASIC warned consumers against engaging with scammers who pretend to offer crypto and stock trading services. They use fake trading websites to scam users.
Australia’s financial regulator has told licensees and market participants to act now on cyber resilience, warning that frontier AI is lowering the barrier to sophisticated attacks.
Barnes sold fabricated invoices to an invoice finance provider over 19 months, dishonestly obtaining $2,478,624. The sentence will be served via an Intensive Correction Order.
The Australian regulator said it took down 90% more phishing and investment scam sites than the previous year, warning that AI-generated videos, fake endorsements and cloaking tactics are making scam funnels harder to detect.
Melbourne-based financial adviser David Lofthouse has been banned for three years after ASIC found he advised six clients to place at least 75% of their super into the Shield Master Fund.
Australia’s corporate regulator has disqualified Ashod Balanian from managing corporations over governance failures at three companies tied to a cryptocurrency fund, citing non-cooperation with liquidators and unlicensed operations.
Australia’s financial regulator published fresh research showing 63% of Gen Z use social media for financial decisions, with 18% turning to AI tools, and warned that platforms providing personal advice may need a licence.
The Federal Court has ordered BPS Financial to pay $14 million after ASIC found the company operated without a licence and made false claims about its Qoin Wallet product.
In a statement today, the Australian Securities & Investments Commission said Gunn accepted it was reasonable to suspect the funds were the proceeds of crime, derived from suspected international scams.
Australia’s corporate regulator has secured the return of almost AUS$40m (US$26m) to more than 38,000 retail investors and prompted wide-ranging compliance changes across the CFD sector following an industry-wide review.
Larissa Quinlan, Kurt Stuart, Emma Summer and Syed Yusuf ran a Telegram group that did pump and dumps on ASX penny stocks.
The Australian regulator said that FXOpen did not have the human resources necessary to run the firm and had breached other financial regulations.
Capital.com have probably been told by the FCA to stop providing some services. Also we look at ASIC and the surge in popularity of US options trading.
