Tony Iervasi has pleaded guilty to five criminal charges regarding the operation of a Ponzi scheme when he was director of Courtenay House Pty Ltd (in liquidation) and Courtenay House Capital Trading Group Pty Ltd (in liquidation).
Iervasi pleaded guilty to four offences of engaging in dishonest conduct between 13 December 2010 and 21 April 2017, when he was the sole director and shareholder of Courtenay House, which raised around A$180m (£102m, $117m, €117m) from around 585 investors.
The Courtenay House companies, based out of Bondi Junction, New South Wales, told investors that their funds would be traded in Forex and Futures markets when only around 3% were traded. Instead, monthly amounts paid to investors were derived from capital deposited from new investors, the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (Asic) said.
This has been referred to, and admitted by Iervasi, as a Ponzi scheme.
Details
In addition to offering purported ‘standard’ investment products, Iervasi ran several ‘investment specials’ to encourage trading.
In December 2016, Iervasi invited clients to invest in a ‘US Election Special Trade’ which was to take place between 1 January 2017 and 1 February 2017 to coincide with the Inauguration of President Trump, as a way to invest in what Iervasi claimed was ‘fast-money markets’. On this occasion, Iervasi offered a 15% return with a 20% risk, the Aussie regulator added.
Asic said that his clients were told, via weekly emails,…
