AAT upholds adviser ban after successful appeal

Tony Davidof, then licensed by now-defunct stockbroking firm BBY Limited, received a three-year ban from providing financial advice in December 2015 after the corporate regulator found he had manipulated the price of MINI warrants (MINIs), a type of derivative issued by Credit Suisse.

MINIs derive their value from a range of things, including “a share, a share price index (including the S&P/ASX 200 Index), a pair of currencies or a commodity”, the regulator said in a statement.

Credit Suisse ceased issuing MINIs in October 2013, the regulator said.

ASIC’s investigation found that Mr Davidof had engaged in back-to-back buy and sell trades in MINIs on the ASX after he had pre-arranged the price, volume and timing of the trade with a Credit Suisse employee.

Mr Davidof was subsequently banned by ASIC, but appealed the decision to the AAT arguing that MINIs did not qualify as derivatives under the Corporations Act, and therefore were not financial products.

Mr Davidof’s appeal was upheld in January 2017, however ASIC the appealed the decision the following month, and the AAT chose to uphold the regulators appeal on 11 December 2017.