Ponzi Scheme Managed Account Question - Courtenay House Trading Group

[Toldyaso]

Drivel. Why would ASIC give them a new licence if they have firstly been trading not having had one and then been operating under completely the wrong one? ASIC will shut them down or so severely restrict them so as to stop them taking on any further business. Further, the court said that they have not been dealing with clients funds in an appropriate manner which would suggest that funds are not held at arms length from the company or in a trust account.

I do not wish to be negative but why would the company tell you anything else apart from its all okay. Travel bans are not imposed when you're getting a new licence are they? not in my experience. Isn't that what happens to people facing criminal conviction who are a flight risk?

It baffles me the naivety I see here and the lack of basic research that goes into making investments before parting with large amounts of money. Professional traders with the backing of the worlds largest most aggressive investment banks cannot even come close to the sort of returns these guys were offering but who are we to say whether a bunch of blokes in a serviced office in Bondi cant outperform the market?

The worst case scenario is not that everyone gets their money back. Don't be so naïve.

As for earlier comments about if it were a Ponzi scheme they would have fled by now, do some research on Ponzi schemes throughout history, they always get caught when the money runs out.

 

[Peacekeeper]

ASIC message indicated there is approximately $25 million in their acccount. Anyone knows as to what was the total size of investment pool these guys had?

 

[Oshir1]

I have quite some money invested with Courtenay House and heard about this forum from someone else invested as well. I have spoken to one of the people that work there and have assured me there is nothing to worry about. At this point in time it seems as though everyone's capital is being held and not going anywhere, until the investigation is over. Courtenay House already have the ball rolling with the new license and things should be resolved soon. Absolute worst case scenario is that everyone gets there money back. I don't think speculating things on this site makes anyone feel any better about the situation, and most of it isn't true to begin with. I've seen the past performance charts myself, they were even given out at a seminar I was at once, and a few others who have asked for them have received them.

I have a lot of faith in them, and I trust that nothing bad has actually happened. I've even spoken to the insurance people, and they have ensured that insurance is in place. However, no one can make any claims unless an actual crime has been committed, however, this isn't the case, as no crimes have been committed.
I just wanted to come on here to try and calm some people down. If anything, instead of speculating, I would call Courtenay House and speak to them about it like I did and find out what's going on from them.

Thanks for this comment, very well said. my wife and I feel the same as you and hope and believe that everything will be ok. Support and a positive attitude will help everyone continue forward in the next few months when we will know more.

 

[Toldyaso]

ASIC message indicated there is approximately $25 million in their acccount. Anyone knows as to what was the total size of investment pool these guys had?

Precisely. I'll bet offering 7.5% per month return there would be a lot more than $25m worth of ignorant money with them.

 

[Guacamayo]

If you read the NSW Supreme Court ruling on Courtenay House that I linked to in the post on the previous page you will see more background information on why Tony (the director) was barred from leaving the country. It also makes mention of the fact that legitimate forex trading was actually going on when their funds were frozen - leaving many trading positions open. From that ruling one could basically surmise that Courtenay House was a legitimate forex trading business mixed in with some (or perhaps, a lot of) sketchy/illegal business practices.

 

[Pharaoh]

For those of you still holding out hope, check out the Kubler-Ross model of the 5 Stages of Grief:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kübler-Ross_model

You are currently in denial. This is very common when a Ponzi scheme of other "free money" scam gets busted. The only good news here is that a significant amount of money has been frozen, so can't disappear.

Your comment that the insurance was BS, I assume, in regards to "anti ponzi insurance" is fairly inaccurate, whilst anti ponzi insurance doesn't exist alone per se, a comprehensive Crime coverage will potentially indemnify claims relating to both internal and external theft, internal theft relating to monies that are in the care custody and control of the firm - if client funds are being systematically stolen, a crime coverage may respond depending on the facts.......whist it's not ponzi specific insurance, the product is designed to cover internal theft ......

Insurance designed to provide some protection to a company against a bad employee or two is possible.

On the other hand, the insurance as described to clients was described quite differently:

Insurance designed to protect the investors if the company itself intentionally goes criminal. Really? Is there a specific name for this kind of insurance so we can all ask investment companies if they carry it?

The insured amount is built around the maximum that can be withdraw over a short period - this would save the company from loss if simple embezzlement was quickly detected. A Ponzi scheme can slowly and steadily steal the funds.

The "protected" clients can't see the policy since that might somehow allow the clients to figure out a way to bypass the insurance and not have their investments protected. Yeah, sure.

Even better, the company isn't even properly licensed for the kind of financial plan it offers clients. I think this could very easily be used as a reason for the insurance company to invalidate any coverage over funds placed into what ASIC would consider to be an illegal investment. After all, I don't think insurance companies offer coverage of crimes in progress.

Please tell us all more about how this claimed insurance could serve as anti-Ponzi insurance and provide more than the slightest level of protection for client deposits.

 

[John1968]

Whole all of the nay sayers are calling this a Ponzi scheme and discussing how best to deal with grief.

FPA Forums Team Note: Uncivilized statements removed. This person's post proved he is incapable of functioning in a civilized debate. He has been banned.

 

[Gorgedd]

Thanks for this comment, very well said. my wife and I feel the same as

Guys just wait and see what happens, asic have frozen around 25 million from there banks accounts plus about 3 other companies which were owned by the directors until this situation is resolved, worse case situation is they will appoint a liquidator and award client's those funds, it may not be your full capital but it should be partial atleast in that scenario the biggest questions regarding this is how much money did they actually have under management we will not find out until asic investigates /court date until than there is too much uncertainty what this company was actually doing with the money or if they were even trading at all- this is probably the best news you will get as an client regarding this

personally i was looking deep into them because i was not comfortable investing with them as they seem very dubious but legit at the same time and this happened before i could pull my funds out i was only a client for 5months and was looking to pull out.

wait until asic provides updates on the situation /until the court date no point speculating until the situation has been investigated and an resolution give by asic, hopefully situation will resolve in September and the court date dosent get pushed back with an new order

you have to remember there is people who transfered them $50k + for the brexit trading offer ( there 1month special trading offer) with approx 15-20% return for a month are the ones who have this the shittiest plus they most likely had 6 figure capital just before funds got frozen, so the people who did that did not even see a cent of a return and stuck without there capital.

to all the other clients of the company posting on this thread, out of curiosity how deep are you invested with them and what returns were you getting from them? i was minimum invested with them in the 1.5% only

and yes if people can keep posts positive in an way everyone involved is very stressed and feeling like **** last thing anyone need is someone making the feel even worse, theres alot of honest people who put in money in this company that did not deserve to be ripped off, i am sure people will have learnt an important life experience/lesson when this situation is finally resolved.

i hope the best for all people who have money involved and this incident hasen't left you financially crippled as there is people out there who invested beyond there means or relied on the income to support themself.

if any clients wanna chat about this shoot me an pm with skype/mobile if you wanna talk about this

all the best to everyone.

What is your email? My partner and friends who also have money invested have a meeting with ASIC on Monday. I can keep you posted

 

[almost]

Gorgedd could you Pm me please.

 

[Peacekeeper]

What is your email? My partner and friends who also have money invested have a meeting with ASIC on Monday. I can keep you posted

Hi Gorgedd, I'm an investor myself, nervously watching development. Also keen to get an update from the meeting with ASIC. Did they contact ASIC or ASIC randomly picked them. Do we need to contact ASIC to register us as an interested party?