In a statement today, ASIC announced it has permanently banned Ashley Grant Howard from providing financial services after it was found that he had: engaged in dishonest conduct; held out that trading he was conducting was authorised; provided financial services when not licensed or authorised to do so; and engaged in conduct that was likely to mislead.
ASIC also found that Mr Howard had breached the Corporations Act by: using more than $1.8 million of client funds for his own benefit or the benefit of others (which included paying for cosmetic surgery for his partner, purchasing a house and settling debts to Jordan Belfort, the so-called ‘Wolf of Wall Street’); and provided false information and documents to clients and third parties.
ASIC said Mr Howard was once a licensed adviser, but did not name the licensee.
Mr Howard’s dishonest, unauthorised use of the $1.8 million from clients led to ASIC finding that he was not of good fame and character, the statement said.
ASIC commissioner John Price said, “ASIC will take action to remove persons from the financial services industry to protect the public.
“Mr Howard’s conduct was particularly bad in that, on occasions, he preyed on elderly and vulnerable people.”
Mr Howard has the right to appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for a review of ASIC’s decision.
This article has been amended to clarify that Mr Howard was previously a licensed adviser.
There are 2 types of advisers 1 is a financial adviser the other is a financial adviser salesperson the latter is a crook
Finally some pics available of this scammer:
http://www.smh.com.au/business/cbd/18-million-disappeared-and-so-are-images-of-asicbanned-wolf-ashley-howard-20161103-gsgxz0.html
Are we able to post pics here?
Does anyone have a photo of Ashley Howard? There is absolutely nothing on the internet anywhere that I could find. People should know what he looks like so they can be aware.
Howard was an Auth Rep of an entity called AIE Fiduciary Services, an organisation that appears to have been set-up entirely to engage in the fraud Howard and his co-conspirators were convicted of. Once they slipped past the application process it was on for young and old. ASIC eventually caught up with them of course (issuing EUs, banning orders and canceling the AFSL in 2014), but as is the case with every single ASIC ‘victory’, it occured only after irretrievable damage to the consumer (Howard is a bankrupt).
ASICs press release refers to Howard as a ‘former financial adviser’ (http://bit.ly/2fuI3Kn) but as others have noted, he was masquerading as an ‘adviser’ at best. ASIC must refer to him as an adviser because if it doesn’t claim the scalp as a rogue adviser (thereby justifying its role) then it must admit the other thing, which is that it administers a system that not only doesn’t protect consumers or prevent frauds from occurring but actually provides the perfect cover and illusion of legitimacy the crooks need to see their fraudulent schemes through.
well said Scott – love it if the Government went after Jordan Belfort for receiving proceeds of crime (don’t really care if he didn’t willingly). Such a low life and got away with murder to be now rich and famous. Jordan ripped off the elderly (even though that was never focused on). Can you imagine a banned Aussie Fin Adviser getting their own movie?..
About time – has only taken 1,370 days since being notified of his activities for them to remove this guy from doing further damage to the public!
Agree Melinda – frustrating that IFA uses headlines indicating this fraudster was an ‘adviser’.
If someone impersonates a Doctor or cop, do we say Doctor/Policeman on charges? Either lazy, absolute rubbish reporting and editing or they are harloting for the sake of sensationalism.
And if ASIC are releasing information with this type of branding, then our professional bodies need to be taking them to task over it and lobbying the Gov to stop this form of misrepresentation.
A bit more to it than what is in the article – he was an AR and was licensed through 2 separate AFSL’s over the course of his activities.
So he wasnt an adviser, he was just a crook. How hard can it be for a magazine that supposedly represents and caters to the ifa market to actually get this right?
Yay please please can we get these cruds out of our industry and keep them out!
How do you remove someone from being a financial adviser when he wasn’t actually a financial adviser to begin with?
Totally agree Melinda, this person was NOT a financial adviser (ie Licensed & Authorised).
Surely ASIC and the news media can come up with an alternative name to describe these crooks instead of continually defaming the honest financial planners which this kind of reporting does.
Much the same way they changed the term “King Hit” to “Coward’s Punch”
But then I suppose it wouldn’t sensationalize the report.
I can’t see what’s wrong with calling it a Coward’s Punch when someone king hits a stranger who is not expecting any confrontation at all.