Question
Despite Heath's disastrous business dealings, Heath avoids personal bankruptcy and remains in good standing within the financial planning industry. Heath, nowa director at his firm,
Despite Heath's disastrous business dealings, Heath avoids personal bankruptcy and remains in good standing within the financial planning industry. Heath, nowa director at his firm, has a stable book of clients and sees a steady stream of newclients wanting to sign up. Amongst his best clients are 3 high net worth individuals each with $3,000,000 worth of assets under management. Jessie is a promising newclient with a considerable asset base to manage. She is a high flying criminal lawyer but has little financial experience. She has a personal rule of investing 10% of her annual income which has left her with at least $20,000 to invest in shares every year over the past 15 years. She lives in a luxurious million-dollar home and owns two separate investment properties worth $500,000 each. She has no mortgage on any of the properties. Jessie hands Heath a stack of papers and certificates from her accountant, but Heath can't be bothered looking at them. Heath impresses her with his smooth talking, and she is signed up as a client.
Charles is a good friend of Heath's and, as a licensed stockbroker, frequently sends good deals his way. Charles is looking to offload some shares in BHP for a client going through tough times. The shares are being sold slightly undervalue. Acknowledging the good deal, Heath rings up Jessie to offer her some BHP shares immediately. She is happy to purchase several thousand dollars' worth of shares. Due to Heath's longer relationship with one of his blue-chip clients, Steve, he executes trades on his behalf and secures more BHP shares. Heath did not inform Steve of the trades or check whether his engagement with Steve permitted such activity but believed Steve would be thrilled with the investment opportunity.
Heath is reviewing another client's file, Beth, when he notices she has no life or income protection insurance. He decides to ring up Beth straight away, noting that it was almost the end of his workday. Beth seems happy to take up Heath's recommendation and agrees to purchase the product being offered by Heath's firm.
One of Heath's friends, Bill is starting up a business. Bill decides to fundraise using a form of cryptocurrency called Bill-Coin. Bill informs Heath that he will pay a 2.5% commission to any investors Heath can send his way. Heath does not really understand cryptocurrency. He knows it is viewed as a legitimate investment vehicle these days but has not attended any professional seminars on the subject, noting they sounded 'boring'. Heath is nervous about the commission and the prospect of being caught. He asks Brenton, the managing director at the firm for advice. Brenton advises that 'it is fine' and 'everyone does it'. This reassures Heath and he decides to proceed with promoting Bill-Coin.
Heath is questioned by several of his clients about the risks associated with Bill-Coin. Heath notes the investment is 'virtually risk free', but no one is persuaded by Heath's pitch. Heath is frustrated by this and alters some of the offer documents provided by Bill. Heath embellishes the projected growth in the business, thus making it more attractive, and this leads to many clients agreeing to invest in Bill-Coin. The investment proves to be disastrous and is little more than a Ponzi scheme with each investment virtually worthless at this point. In a fortuitous turn of fate, Heath receives a phone call informing him of an impending takeover by Poll Ltd of Ted's Trucking Company Ltd. Heath think's its unusual that the caller repeatedly refers to him as Chris, but is happy nonetheless. After hanging up, Heath realises, the caller must have meant to call Chris from Level 2.
Chris no longer works in wealth management or financial planning. He is highly connected in the banking sector and thus provides advisory services to corporate clients. It is very hush hush and Heath does not knowmuch of Chris or his team's activities. Heath has tried to snoop on them, but their documents do not appear on the firm's intranet. Heath is also angry that his old secretary Bob is no longer permitted to work for Heath after filling in for several months in Chris' department. Instead of telling Chris (who Heath nowhates), he decides to purchase a significant number of shares in Ted's Trucking Company Ltd on behalf of his clients in order to help cover up the Bill-Coin losses.
Several days pass uneventfully. It is now 4.55pm Friday, when ASIC storms in looking for Heath. They demand to see his files, pointing to some irregularities in his dealings with clients. Heath proclaims 'its Friday and I'm going fishing, see you in 3 weeks'. ASIC gain access to Heath's work computer, but cannot find any of his clients files. As it turns out, Heath is paranoid and only has his work files stored on a USB stick which is kept on his person at all times.
Advise all parties of actions that may be taken against them for market misconduct or ethical violations
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