Mayfair scheme founder James Mawhinney lodges complaint against ASIC lawyers
Mayfair scheme founder James Mawhinney says ASIC made “damning allegations of misconduct” public before his lawyers were properly informed of the case.
Mayfair 101 founder James Mawhinney is seeking a formal apology from and disciplinary action against Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s lawyers.
He has filed formal complaints against ASIC’s lawyers after the regulator published a media release that alleged he was in contempt of court, “despite his lawyers not being properly served with proceedings,” a statement released on behalf of Mr Mawhinney on Friday said.
The statement said formal complaints have been lodged with the Legal Services Commission, the Office of the Legal Services Commissioner, and the Legal Services Board.
On November 16, ASIC said it had filed a contempt application against Mr Mawhinney for failing to comply with the Federal Court’s April 19 orders to stop raising funds through financial products for 20 years.
On the same day, Mr Mawhinney issued a statement saying he denies ASIC’s allegations and intends “on vigorously defending the proceedings”.
On Friday, Mr Mawhinney complained that the ASIC lawyers “failed to ensure his lawyers were properly served prior to ASIC publishing a media release, resulting in more than a dozen major news publications circulating ASIC’s damning allegations of misconduct prior to being properly informed of ASIC’s case against him”.
ASIC “failed to give” Mr Mawhinney’s legal team access to over 800 pages of ASIC’s court filings until a full business day after ASIC released the information, “and even then, the documents contained missing annexures which were not corrected until another full business day later”, the statement said.
“It is concerning that a regulator considers it needs to act in this way toward our client when the strength of their case alone ought to be sufficient to achieve their regulatory objectives,” Roberts Gray Lawyers’ senior partner Rhys Roberts said.
Mr Mawhinney’s Mayfair 101 first made headlines after snapping up the cyclone-ravaged Dunk Island resort on the back of $200m raised through the Mayfair Platinum and IPO Wealth brands run by Mr Mawhinney.
ASIC has submitted the Mayfair 101 scheme, built around investments in the Far North Queensland town of Mission Beach and Dunk Island, was “a Ponzi-like scheme” that relied on new investors to pay out old.
Mr Mawhinney said on Friday all obligations to Mayfair 101’s noteholders were current at the time ASIC launched its campaign against the group in March 2020.
Statements by ASIC’s leadership that “blamed” him for losing over $210m of investor funds “were simply untrue and that Mayfair’s investments were very real and capable of generating a return to noteholders”.
The appeal against Mr Mawhinney’s 20-year ban is expected to be heard in Federal Court early next year.
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