Regulator moves on currency trading scheme Your Trading Room
by ANTHONY KLAN from: The Australian April 13, 2012 12:00AM
LIQUIDATORS have been appointed to a Brisbane-based international currency trading scheme -- which had raised up to $10 million
from about 2000 investors and clients across the world -- after action by the corporate regulator. The Supreme Court of Queensland
yesterday appointed provisional liquidators to Your Trading Room following an application by the ASIC. The liquidation follows revelations
in The Australian that Your Trading Room had no directors, no shareholders (both of which are required under corporations law)
and that its Brisbane businesses premises were abandoned. Last month, it was revealed that businessman Les Freeman was
operating Your Trading Room in Brisbane, Santa Monica, California and Hong Kong, despite being banned by ASIC in late 2010 from acting
as a company director for four years. Mr Freeman was removed as a director of Your Trading Room and sister company Traders Services
at the time of the ASIC ban, but continued to effectively run the entire group, according to directors.
Directors of Your Trading Room's US operations, who include Joe Nikolson and Richard Waryn, have told The Australian they cannot
account for much of the $6.8m raised by Your Trading Room last financial year and that the company was "basically insolvent".
Mr Freeman -- who regularly refers to himself as "Ray" in his US dealings -- has repeatedly declined to respond to questions.
His continued activities have highlighted the inadequacies of corporate watchdog, which as early as 2004 took action against Mr Freeman
and his wife, Kylie Freeman, after they improperly raised $29m from local investors via property development scheme CoDevelop.
ASIC found the pair -- Mr Freeman as chief executive and Ms Freeman as director -- had told investors they could double their money
in a year and that they had "engaged in conduct that was misleading or deceptive or likely to mislead and deceive".
ASIC took no action against the couple other than to wind up that scheme and to prevent them from raising money under that particular
scheme. Since then Mr Freeman has been involved in at least four other schemes that collectively have lost investors more than $30m.
ASIC has not said why it did not take action preventing Mr Freeman from operating companies earlier, or why it chose late 2010 to make
such a move. It is also unclear why ASIC had not taken action against Your Trading Room earlier, despite a series of complaints from investors
and clients spanning many months. The regulator said Simon Vertullo and Damian Templeton of KPMG had been appointed as provisional liquidators
by the court to "identify and secure the assets and records of YTR and to report to the court in relation to the affairs of the company before
the hearing of ASIC's application to wind up YTR on just and equitable grounds". That application will be heard by the court on May 10, ASIC said.
by ANTHONY KLAN from: The Australian April 13, 2012 12:00AM
LIQUIDATORS have been appointed to a Brisbane-based international currency trading scheme -- which had raised up to $10 million
from about 2000 investors and clients across the world -- after action by the corporate regulator. The Supreme Court of Queensland
yesterday appointed provisional liquidators to Your Trading Room following an application by the ASIC. The liquidation follows revelations
in The Australian that Your Trading Room had no directors, no shareholders (both of which are required under corporations law)
and that its Brisbane businesses premises were abandoned. Last month, it was revealed that businessman Les Freeman was
operating Your Trading Room in Brisbane, Santa Monica, California and Hong Kong, despite being banned by ASIC in late 2010 from acting
as a company director for four years. Mr Freeman was removed as a director of Your Trading Room and sister company Traders Services
at the time of the ASIC ban, but continued to effectively run the entire group, according to directors.
Directors of Your Trading Room's US operations, who include Joe Nikolson and Richard Waryn, have told The Australian they cannot
account for much of the $6.8m raised by Your Trading Room last financial year and that the company was "basically insolvent".
Mr Freeman -- who regularly refers to himself as "Ray" in his US dealings -- has repeatedly declined to respond to questions.
His continued activities have highlighted the inadequacies of corporate watchdog, which as early as 2004 took action against Mr Freeman
and his wife, Kylie Freeman, after they improperly raised $29m from local investors via property development scheme CoDevelop.
ASIC found the pair -- Mr Freeman as chief executive and Ms Freeman as director -- had told investors they could double their money
in a year and that they had "engaged in conduct that was misleading or deceptive or likely to mislead and deceive".
ASIC took no action against the couple other than to wind up that scheme and to prevent them from raising money under that particular
scheme. Since then Mr Freeman has been involved in at least four other schemes that collectively have lost investors more than $30m.
ASIC has not said why it did not take action preventing Mr Freeman from operating companies earlier, or why it chose late 2010 to make
such a move. It is also unclear why ASIC had not taken action against Your Trading Room earlier, despite a series of complaints from investors
and clients spanning many months. The regulator said Simon Vertullo and Damian Templeton of KPMG had been appointed as provisional liquidators
by the court to "identify and secure the assets and records of YTR and to report to the court in relation to the affairs of the company before
the hearing of ASIC's application to wind up YTR on just and equitable grounds". That application will be heard by the court on May 10, ASIC said.
