Mayfair accuses trustee of ‘corporate injustice’

In a letter to Mayfair unitholders, James Mawhinney said he wanted to “call out” Vasco and “highlight a corporate injustice” following the trustee’s move to appoint receivers to the IPO Wealth Fund.

“The value of (unitholders’) investment in the IPO Wealth Fund has been destroyed by an unscrupulous trustee and their accomplices who have set out to discredit our business and myself personally to further their own agenda,” Mr Mawhinney said.

Mr Mawhinney believes that ASIC’s investigation into the fund, along with an independent investigation by the accountant of a unitholder and increased media attention, had created a situation where Vasco was no longer comfortable being linked to Mayfair.

“Driven by self-interest, Vasco raced off to court to take advantage of these events to bring the IPO Wealth Fund to an end,” Mr Mawhinney said. “This has resulted in a significant and rapid destruction of value that could easily have been avoided by simply working with us to get a favourable outcome for investors.”

Mr Mawhinney also said that provisional liquidators Dye & Co had submitted “misleading” reports to the court and proposed that he transfer Mayfair 101 assets into their control for nil consideration “with the veiled threat of a public examination if (he) did not comply”.

“I consider this to be nothing short of a form of extortion to ensure Vasco, Dye & Co and their lawyers continue to earn fees for years to come at the expense of unitholders,” he said.

Mr Mawhinney claims that Vasco had relied on statements provided by former Mayfair accountant Pinnacle Advisory Group that contained errors and “led to an incorrectly formed view of the financial position” of IPO Wealth.

“Despite advising Vasco, Dye & Co, and the [court] of this and the fact that an internally maintained investment record more accurately depicted the movement of investments, it fell on deaf ears,” Mr Mawhinney said. “Pinnacle Advisory Group resigned on 6 June 2020, just as their work fell under the microscope.”

Last week it was revealed that ASIC had requested the Federal Court bar Mr Mawhinney from leaving Australia and freeze certain assets of Mayfair 101.