ASIC has commenced proceedings in the Federal Court against David Paul Hodgson, MacroLend Pty Ltd and Great Southland Limited alleging unlicensed financial services and misrepresentations to investors.
MacroLend and Great Southland, of which Mr Hodgson is the sole director, form part of a larger group of companies known as the Paladin Group.
ASIC alleges that since at least 5 January 2015, MacroLend was unlicenced when it raised over $47.4 million from 169 investors, including for investments in the development of a software product by another company in the Paladin Group, Kradle Software Pty Ltd.
ASIC Deputy Chair Sarah Court said, ‘ASIC is concerned that investments have been made in MacroLend and Great Southland by people close to Mr Hodgson without the legal protection provided by an Australian financial services licence.
‘ASIC is also concerned about the alleged misrepresentations made by MacroLend, which we allege enticed investors using false information regarding its assets.’
ASIC claims investors were told Kradle Software held intangible assets of $1.02 billion when the balance sheet of Kradle Software did not record any such asset and instead recorded intangible assets of $11,180.
ASIC also alleges Great Southland, a Belize registered entity, has been operating unlawfully in Australia whilst unregistered as a company and without a financial services licence.
ASIC further alleges that since 15 January 2015, Great Southland obtained over $60 million from 89 investors, including 46 Australians.
ASIC seeks declarations and injunctions against each defendant and an order disqualifying Mr Hodgson from managing any corporation for a period to be determined by the Court.
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Background
MacroLend is a registered Australian company. Great Southland is registered in Belize and has never been registered in Australia.
MacroLend and Great Southland form part of a larger group of companies known as the Paladin Group. There is a sub-group of companies within the Paladin Group known as the Corearth Group. The Corearth Group included Corearth Holdings Pty Ltd and Kradle Software Pty Ltd. Corearth Holdings owns all shares in Kradle Software.
Mr Hodgson is also a director of Corearth Holdings and Kradle Software.
In July 2015, Mr Hodgson was banned from providing financial services for 2 years due to a failure to ensure that Exalt Global Funds Limited (of which he was director) complied with its obligations as a Responsible Entity (15-179MR).