On 16 April 2020, the Federal Court made interim orders restraining Mayfair Wealth Partners Pty Ltd (Mayfair Platinum) and Online Investments Pty Ltd (Mayfair 101) from promoting their debenture products and prohibiting the use of specific words and phrases in their advertising. This follows an application made by ASIC for an interim injunction on 3 April 2020.
Mayfair Platinum and Mayfair 101 promote M+ Fixed Income Notes and M Core Fixed Income Notes, their debenture products available to wholesale investors (Mayfair debenture products). Payment of redemptions of capital to investors in the Mayfair debenture products was suspended on 11 March 2020 due to liquidity issues.
On 16 April 2020, Justice Anderson of the Federal Court restrained Mayfair Platinum and Mayfair 101, until further order, from:
The Court also ordered that Mayfair Platinum and Mayfair 101 must post the following notice on their websites, and give a copy of the following notice to each prospective new investor in the Mayfair debenture products:
The Court declined to restrain the defendants from issuing and accepting new investments in the Mayfair debenture products.
On 3 April 2020, ASIC commenced proceedings against companies in the Mayfair 101 group, alleging that they engaged in false, misleading or deceptive conduct (20-080MR).
The Court will list the matter for hearing to determine ASIC’s allegations in due course.
ASIC has a dedicated webpage for Mayfair 101/Mayfair Platinum debenture product investors.
Consumers that have concerns about their dealings with the Mayfair 101 group can lodge a report of misconduct with ASIC.
Editor’s note:
The matter has been set down for a hearing commencing on 28 September 2020.
