ASIC: Mark Thomas risks $340,000 fine or 5-year prison for dishonestly controlling van Eyk Research

Rick Steves

The Australia Securities and Investments Commission has announced that Mark Thomas, former chief executive of van Eyk Research, pleaded guilty to breaching directors’ duties. The financial services executive admitted to the court that he dishonestly used his position as a director with the intention of directly or indirectly gaining an advantage for himself. The matter […]

The Australia Securities and Investments Commission has announced that Mark Thomas, former chief executive of van Eyk Research, pleaded guilty to breaching directors’ duties.

The financial services executive admitted to the court that he dishonestly used his position as a director with the intention of directly or indirectly gaining an advantage for himself.

The matter will be before the Court for mention on 1 July 2022, at which time a sentencing date is expected to be set. The maximum penalty for this offence is $340,000 or imprisonment for five years, or both.

Scheme prevented third party from gaining control of van Eyk Research

According to ASIC, Mark Thomas dishonestly used his position as director of Blueprint Investment Management Limited (Blueprint), a New Zealand-based subsidiary of van Eyk Research, to facilitate an investment of nearly $5 million by Blueprint in a separate fund, the Wholesale Enhanced Income Fund. The funds were then loaned to another company, TAA Melbourne Pty Ltd to purchase an interest in van Eyk Research.

The goal, according to ASIC, was to ensure Mark Thomas would maintain control of the company’s affairs and strategy as the abovementioned transactions prevented a third party from gaining control of van Eyk Research, of which he was the CEO.

By doing this, Mr. Thomas used his position as a director dishonestly with the intention of directly or indirectly gaining an advantage for himself, said the financial watchdog.

ASIC sues ANZ for overcharging credit card accounts

ASIC has taken Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ANZ) to Federal Court for allegedly misleading its customers as to the available funds and balances in their credit card accounts.

Australia’s financial watchdog claims that 165,750 ANZ customers were charged cash advance fees and interest for withdrawing or transferring money from their credit card accounts based on an incorrect account balance, between May 2016 and November 2018. Moreover, ANZ has not adequately fixed the problem and customers continue to be affected, ASIC stated.

While the regulator admitted that ANZ has remediated over $10 million to customers who were affected up until 17 November 2018, the issue remains and more customers have been wrongly charged since 2018.

ASIC is seeking the Federal Court to order ANZ to compensate the customers who have been wrongly charged and haven’t been remediated yet.

The financial watchdog is also seeking declarations and pecuniary penalties from the Court and orders that require ANZ to implement a system change so that where a payment is made to a customer’s credit card account, it is not included in their funds or balance until that amount is cleared by ANZ and available to use without adverse consequences.

Read this next

Digital Assets

Cathie Wood’s sponsored Bitcoin ETF sees historic $200 million inflows

The ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB), co-sponsored by Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest, registered historic inflows exceeding $200 million on Wednesday, signaling a robust appetite among investors for Bitcoin-centric investments.

Digital Assets

Sam Bankman-Fried might see his 25-year sentence halved

Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison by a Manhattan court on Thursday. This comes after he was convicted of defrauding customers and investors, with Judge Lewis Kaplan highlighting the potential future risks posed by Bankman-Fried.

Technical Analysis

EURJPY Technical Analysis Report 28 March, 2024

EURJPY currency pair under the bearish pressure after the pair reversed down from the major resistance level 164.25, which also stopped the sharp weekly uptrend at the end of last year,

Digital Assets

BlockDAG’s Presale Hits $9.9M, MultiversX & MINA Price Predictions Show Green

Read about BlockDAG’s promising $10 prediction and insights on MultiversX Price Prediction as MINA’s potential unfolds.

Digital Assets

Rockstar Co-Founder and All-star Line Up Join Advisory Board to Take Metacade into Post Beta Orbit

Metacade, the revolutionary Web3 gaming platform, prepares to streak out of beta with a slew of ground-breaking initiatives that will redefine the way blockchain games are developed.

Retail FX

Prop firm The Funded Trader shuts down, claims relaunch in April

Prop trading firm The Funded Trader has ceased all operations, with claims for a relaunch in the near future.

Digital Assets

Ethereum-Based Tokenized Real Estate Platform USP Launches On Republic

How This Californian Startup Is Revolutionizing Real Estate Investment through Ethereum-Based Tokenization.

Digital Assets

Sui Spikes in Weekly DEX Volume, Joins Top 10 of All Blockchains

March DEX volume on Sui stands at over $2.88B – up more than 49% from February – with decentralized exchange Cetus and wholesale liquidity layer DeepBook leading.

Digital Assets

Prisma Finance suffers $10 million crypto exploit, attack ongoing

Liquid staking protocol Prisma Finance fell victim to a security exploit on March 28, resulting in nearly $10 million in Prisma mkUSD and wrapped stETH being stolen by hackers.

<