The directors of troubled property syndicator SPI Group have given enforceable undertakings to the Financial Markets Authority that they will not be involved in raising money from the public for five years and to repay SPI Property Fund investors.
Murray Rex Alcock and Allister Ronald Knight agreed to the undertakings not to participate in seeking or holding investment funds from the public for five years, after the FMA completed an investigation into the two directors' conduct and reached a view that they had breached financial markets legislation.
The undertakings prevent them from acting as a director, promoter, CEO or CFO (or equivalent positions) of any companies that seek or hold investment funds form the public.
The pair were involved in managing various property investment entities, often structured as syndicated investments, many of which lost substantial amounts of money for their investors.
The FMA said it had concerns regarding Knight and Alcock's management of investor funds associated with the SPI entities.
It also had concerns about the compliance standards of the SPI entities themselves, including apparent failures to comply with financial reporting requirements, to hold investors' subscriptions on trust, to repay subscriptions owed to investors in relation to SPI Property Funds Ltd, and to keep investors adequately informed about the performance of their investments.
Alcock and Knight have already pleaded guilty to charges brought by the FMA, that as directors of SPI Property Ltd they breached the reporting requirements of the Financial Reporting Act.
They are due to be sentenced on those charges in January.
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