The Australian Securities and Investments Fee (ASIC) has disqualified former Magnolia Capital Group director Mitchell Atkins from managing firms for a interval of 5 years and banned him for a interval of 10 years from offering monetary providers and interesting in credit score actions.
The Magnolia Capital Group of corporations collapsed in 2022 owing unsecured collectors hundreds of thousands of {dollars}. The Group operated companies between 2018 and 2022 that offered buyers with monetary recommendation and providers in relation to secured lending transactions and share funding.
Mr Atkins was a director of all the businesses within the Magnolia Capital Group, together with 13 corporations the place a liquidator’s report was lodged with ASIC and recognized that the businesses had been unable to pay their unsecured collectors greater than 50 cents within the greenback.
From 19 September 2018 to 7 October 2022, Mr Atkins was an authorised consultant of Australian monetary providers licensee Guildfords Fund Administration Pty Ltd.
ASIC’s findings included that Mr Atkins:
- did not act in good religion as a director by placing investor funds in danger, confirmed a scarcity of honesty and integrity by creating false paperwork, co-mingling investor funds and displayed a scarcity of competence, professionalism and monetary administration such that it’s within the public curiosity that he be disqualified from managing firms;
- will not be a match and correct individual to offer monetary providers attributable to him dealing in monetary merchandise with out authorisation from Guildfords, making deceptive and misleading representations to buyers about their investments and dishonestly retaining investor funds which had been attributable to be repaid to buyers; and
- will not be a match and correct individual to have interaction in credit score actions, together with as a result of he did not undertake coaching, take care of investor complaints and to reply to requests from Guildfords.
The liquidators of the Magnolia Capital group of corporations have reported a deficiency to collectors of between $40-50 million.
On 2 March 2023, Mr Atkins was declared bankrupt. In June 2023, ASIC obtained an order from the Federal Court docket of Australia to limit Mr Atkins from leaving Australia for a interval of six months.
