For all creditors/investors who were not at the liquidators meeting on the 31st here is the main information for you:
For the first time the liquidators stated unequivocally that Courtenay House Capital Trading Group was a Ponzi Scheme. In previous updates they have used terms such as “has the hallmarks” and “we are still investigating”. No more.
They said they came to this conclusion based on interviews they held with Tony Iervasi and their initial forensic investigating.
The investors (unsecured creditors) are owed $197 million.
GT has recovered $51.32 million which they have placed in a term deposit.
Of the $51.32 million recovered, $29 million is BREXIT money, $21 million is held in a Westpac account (CHCTG) and $1.3 million was found in FX trading accounts.
From 2014 - 2017 GT found CH used funds in the following way: 89% was used for investor capital returns and interest - the Ponzi scheme. 3% went to ‘Persons of interest’, 1% for company expenses, 1% to FOREX trading accounts and 7% was unknown.
The two other “special trades” that were held in November and January were never traded at all, the money sat in the bank for the month.
GT has interviewed Iervasi, Athan Papoulias, Anshul Gupta and some contractor traders that were used by CHCTG. David Sipina denies he was a director and refuses to be interviewed by GT.
The contractors said they only traded $50K at any one time, mainly traded from their home, sometimes lost money, sometimes broke even and were never consistent.
The freezing orders ASIC asked the court to apply are still in place and will be until September 4th. GT is going to seek an extension.
GT are going to court in the next three weeks to ask the court with help on how to handle the BREXIT money. It may be given back (minus costs) or placed in the pool with the rest of the funds. A decision won’t be known for at least three months depending on the court process.
The final payout of whatever is left won’t be made for at least 12 months time.
ASIC is focused on the potential criminal matters and they don't share all their information with GT.
Iervasi has signed a statement saying there is NO money overseas despite what he has been telling investors since this all went down.
There hasn’t been a decision made on whether money that creditors received from CH will be deducted from what they are owed.
A MESSAGE FOR TOLDYASO
I have been keeping an eye on the forum as this has unfolded and held my tongue until now. It is not your fault that creditors lost their money, that some people invested with very little research and that it turned out to be a Ponzi. But let me say you are one of the lowest most miserable human beings in Australia. The fact you call people thick, basically taunt them over their loss and even signed up to FPA with the name TOLDYASO speaks volumes about the type of person you are. You claimed in an earlier post how it was gutting to see people lose their money like this but you don’t seem so gutted judging by the way you've spoken here. While other investors have offered what information and support they can, you have added NOTHING to the conversation other then to gloat about how right you were and to basically say TOLDYASO. There are people out there who have lost nearly everything, who are going to have to sell their home and cars and others who are on the edge of nervous breakdowns and your more concerned with getting on here and making sure we all know how smart you are. (As I said I don't blame you for what happened with CH and YES some people including myself could have looked at this much harder and taken more care). I recall someone in an earlier post saying despite what we all have lost we can be happy with the fact we are not YOU. I couldn’t agree more. I’ve learned a lot over the past few months and if I ever find myself in your position in the future looking from the outside in I will offer my advice, let people know how sorry I am for what they are going through and leave it at that. Not shove it in their face. And if you have a problem with anything I’ve said or would like the chance to call me thick to my face, PM me with a time and location. We’ll see how brave you are.
To Pharaoh: You have put up a lot of good info and it turned out to be right. No one should personally attack you for doing so. In saying that as I wrote above some people are in financial ruins from this and the best you can say when this is confirmed is that some people need to come back to a forum and apologise to you or that idiot I mentioned above? Give it a rest mate.
No point in getting shitty mate, won't do you any good. You were warned but chose to ignore it. Any comments I have made are borne out of frustration at watching people through sheer outright greed 'invest' in something that didn't even exist and with the most basic investigation and common sense would send you running a mile the other way. I know people who have 'invested' in this **** and don't give a crap about others as they have had their money back plus more. I truly hope the regulators can go after these people and claw back the money. To also watch the daft Facebook page evolve with obvious moles from tony and his band of crooks has been annoying. I hope good old tony, everyone's friend, goes to jail for a long time. No point in people feeling hard done by, you got yourselves into it. Pure greed and laziness