Peter Spann Last Night on ABC 7.30 Report

Anyone catch it last night?

Was the lead-off story going into him being a bit of a naughty boy.

http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2013/s3728325.htm
I saw him in Brisbane several years ago,and he can talk and had some good tips on investing like the one about you don't have to drink wine from high end outlets cask wine is just the same:rolleyes:..

NEIL JENMAN: Whether they say and they will make excuses like "we're overworked, we need more staff, we need more resources, we need more money," well how come I can follow these things up? How come you as journalists can find these things? If we can find these things you think ASIC would be able to find these problems and find these victims.
 
This was Peter's response (as posted on Facebook)

(Edit: this was also posted on the transcript)
Tonight "The 7.30 Report" ran an article which made a number of serious and entirely false allegations.

The allegations made form part of, and mirror defamatory comments in former staffs' response to Excela's "Statement of Claim" lodged with the courts and the Company is acting to have them struck out as non-factual, misleading and defamatory.

Excela is conducting a legal action for damages against former staff who it is alleged misappropriated confidential information and property of the company, and conspired to bring commercial harm to the company, it's Directors and Shareholders.

Their claims are false and defamatory and we absolutely deny them.

At no time did the report mention the massive cash sign on bonuses the former brokers received to leave the company and take Excela's clients with them. At no time did the report mention the massive losses clients who went with them have suffered. At no time did the report mention their rapid departure from the first firm that hired them. At no time did the report mention the Statement of Claim the company has lodged in the courts against the former brokers and the allegations made in that statement of claim of the appalling behaviour on behalf of those former staff including the theft of property, the misappropriation of confidential information, the significant compliance breeches they covered up and that their former employer is owed a significant sum. The "journalist" simply accepted their allegations as fact and reported them as truth without any attempt to corroborate them or check their accuracy.

It is important to note that these allegations form part of an on-going court action and we have yet to be given the opportunity to defend ourselves in court.

I believe strongly that should the court case proceed Excela will prove its position and prove these allegations false. Moreover I believe it will prove the numerous allegations against the former staff.

I believe their claims to be malicious and their sole purpose is to force the cessation of legal action designed to protect the company and its share holders and/or to place personal pressure upon me. Bizarrely, despite the allegations of the report, I am not personally involved in the legal action. I have not sued anybody. The majority of the action took place under the supervision of the CEO of the company at the time. I could not stop the action or influence it even if I wanted to.

The company's original Statement of Claim demonstrates the nature of its claim against the former staff and the malicious nature of their actions.

It is important to note that I strongly deny these allegations and believe them to be defamatory.

The Managed Funds were at all times managed to their mandate as set out in the Product Disclosure Statements (PDS). The PDS contained detailed risk warnings and details of how the funds were operated and the fees involved.

No fund was "selected" over another. There were four house funds for advisers to choose from including Growth, Income and Emerging Markets and up to 45 external funds on our approved product list, covering the entire gambit of investing categories from very low risk cash style investments to higher risk. Advisers could select from all of those to suit the clients' needs.

In 2012 we had $167 million in funds under advice of which the Accelerator fund made up just 7%. The average fee charged to clients on the balance of the investments was just 0.75% per annum - well below industry average.

The report makes no effort to consider the significant benefit that much of my work has done or the gains that many clients have made following the investment strategy I laid out. Unfortunately a number of clients have lost money due to the GFC, and it is heartbreaking to me that any client of mine lost money through any investment in any of our companies. But many clients have been set up for life using the philosophy I have taught.

I respect any client who wishes to voice concerns over the performance of their investments and I have always responded to any client who contacts me.

The report did not mention that (some of) the funds referred to were capital protected which maintains the client's capital over the term of the loan. If the client had stayed in the product until today the majority of the funds are at break even or profit on a capital basis.

I deny any reference to or allegation of “churning” and the alleged conversation in the report simply did not happen.

The buy write fund strategy sees a number of shares in any portfolio sold towards the end of the month.

The buy-write fund strategy calls for the swap in and out of shares depending on available premium. The shares were selected based on relative strength, performance against market and income generated. This is a definitive criteria and shares that did not fit it were swapped for ones that did.

This does not constitute churning and any allegation of churning is denied. The fund was always operated within its mandate which is described in plain English in the PDS which investors received prior to investing. We also offer extensive education on the strategy including free eBooks and seminars for clients who wish to understand it better.

The allegation is actually nonsensical because I personally received no commission, personal benefit or remuneration on the brokerage generated from fund trading, and the shares traded were done so on an objective criteria. The fund was always operated only for the benefit of the unit holders of which I am one.

I am devastated that some of my companies have not performed. But I sold my shares in Excela to make way for significantly bigger investors with exceptional backgrounds and experience and solid cash backing - these are things I can no longer offer shareholders and I genuinely believe the company will now perform better under new direction. I have always acted in the best interests of all share holders.

The unfortunate administration of the companies referred to in the report was due to the down turn in the economy. The report makes much of the fact that I owned an Island Resort but it did not mention that, like many other properties in the area we were devastated by multiple cyclones, the downturn in the economy and the high Australian dollar which made the property uncompetitive. Four other resorts in the area went into receivership and they are all still closed today. I am proud of what I achieved with that property including being the Number 1 highest rated property in Australian on Trip adviser and multiple awards for service, food, eco-tourism and luxury. But in the end my personal resources could simply not support the ongoing losses.

More experienced Directors than me were called in to assess and potentially restructure, and they made the decision to put the companies into external administration or trade on.

No clients investments were impacted by these events.

I appreciate the support from many friends and clients who have emailed me, texted me and messaged me.

I am very confident we will prove these allegations to be false.
 
Spann

I remember having a "discussion" with Peter Spann (see attached) - where i questioned the fees of his funds amongst other things.

The moderator deleted my post.

Oh dear.....
 

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Just catching up on it now

ABC has this also Regulator implored to examine top wealth creator

Questions are being raised as to why Australia's most successful so-called wealth generator is not being investigated, after his employees lifted the lid on hidden charges and a trail of failed companies.

Peter Spann tells rooms full of mum and dad investors how to make their millions and that he is the rags-to-riches story they can follow.

Financial advice has rocketed Mr Spann from struggling supermarket employee to multi-millionaire.

A ticket to his 2011 seminar in Sydney cost almost $4,000, although a second ticket was thrown in for free.

But former investors and employees have serious concerns about Mr Spann's investments.

Peter Garland and his wife Myrna Sharplin first came into contact with Mr Spann through a seminar.

They invested $75,000 of their superannuation nest egg through his companies Freeman Fox and Excela before the global financial crisis hit.

When the recovery from the crisis came, it did not help them.

"Everything went down but most things have all bounced back. These have just continued to go down and I think there is something drastically wrong there," Mr Garland said.

The couple do not know why their investments performed so poorly.

7.30 has spoken to other clients who tell the same story; together they have had millions of dollars wiped out.

Companies go bust

While new owners attempt to breathe life into Excela, a company for which Mr Spann was the majority shareholder and director, it is too late for other companies he ran.

In the past 18 months three of the companies Mr Spann has been a director of have gone bust, leaving significant debts.

Corporation law says someone who has done that just twice could be banned from being a director for up to five years, but so far he has escaped the attention of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC)
Cont...

It will be interesting to follow the story
 
I remember having a "discussion" with Peter Spann (see attached) - where i questioned the fees of his funds amongst other things.

The moderator deleted my post.

Oh dear.....

It was more than just questioning - you were making assertions without evidence that were clearly libellous and the thread was deleted to prevent YOU (and us) from getting sued.

I have no problems with questioning the actions of investment management companies (indeed, I welcome it - within reason given it is off topic here), however in this case it was decided that the thread went beyond what we consider reasonable.

But this is not the place to discuss posts that were deleted 5 years ago - if you have a problem with the moderation, please contact myself or Ian directly so we can discuss it with you.
 
Peter Spann used to be a contributor on this forum so he may drop in to give us a better view of things.

This case was the first I came across- a tale of an engineer, shire council and Mr Spann as defendant:
http://apps.courts.qld.gov.au/esear...x?Location=CRNS&Court=SUPRE&Filenumber=394/11


These two seem long over:
http://apps.courts.qld.gov.au/esear...Location=BRISB&Court=SUPRE&Filenumber=7606/08

http://apps.courts.qld.gov.au/esear...ocation=BRISB&Court=SUPRE&Filenumber=10896/06


But if you look hard enough:

http://apps.courts.qld.gov.au/esear...Location=BRISB&Court=SUPRE&Filenumber=9150/12


The only winners here are the lawyers. I note the applicants/plaintiffs have gone from a tier 1 law firm with freeman fox to a tier 3 one in the latest.:eek:
 
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I half-started watching it - got the impression that the majority being interviewed were people who had made bad investment decisions or had a bone to pick, wanting someone else to look after their money and then got upset when things didn't work out - looking for someone to blame for their own poor choices.

Unfortunately many believe that these "advisors" are akin to godlike. I still believe that if you follow Peter's BASIC principles then investing in property can work for you ... by old dump in good location ... renovate ... rent out.

I also assume fees and charges would have been disclosed up front - and if you didn't like them then don't use that vehicle.
 
I half-started watching it - got the impression that the majority being interviewed were people who had made bad investment decisions or had a bone to pick, wanting someone else to look after their money and then got upset when things didn't work out - looking for someone to blame for their own poor choices.

Unfortunately many believe that these "advisors" are akin to godlike. I still believe that if you follow Peter's BASIC principles then investing in property can work for you ... by old dump in good location ... renovate ... rent out.

I also assume fees and charges would have been disclosed up front - and if you didn't like them then don't use that vehicle.

The Financial Services area can be a minefield...

Storm Financial
Allco Finance Group
Navra
Bill Express
Elderslie Finance
Lift Capital
MFS
Opes Prime
Westpoint

I'm sure there are many others

There's an interesting report on the industry attached here
 

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I lost thousands through Spann.

He charged high fees selling products which made me no money.

He got into bed with Macquarie, which he then sold Capital protected asia funds, buy write funds, Equinox funds all which ended been total disasters, but this didnt stop him from taking fees left right and centre.

His company Freeman fox is dead, Excela has dumped him, what does this say?
 
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There hasn't been much discussion on here about Peter or Freeman Fox for a while, only natural as he moved from property to managed funds and setting up a financial services/brokerage business I guess :confused:

There was a good thread here what do you think of peter spanns new course

And this from Peter

Peter Spann said:
CRC – I know you’re upset that your investment hasn’t performed the way you anticipated. I’m sorry. But whilst it may be my fault that the fund exists, and it may be my fault how it was promoted and it may be partially my fault (because I don’t manage it, Macquarie does) that it has underperformed your expectations, it is NOT my fault you invested in it. You have to take personal responsibility for that decision.

I went to the seminar in Perth but never invested in the Macquarie products as I didn't understand them; Fees also looked high and there were many of them, there was a reason Macquarie was "The Millionaire Factory"...I decided to invest in Macquarie instead
 
I like how he tries to blame the investor for investing in his products!

He charges a fee to provide professional advise (promote a product), and then blames the investor for taking his advise... lol

And it wasnt 1 failed investment.. what about all those agri-business which was frozen and money was lost?
 
what about all those agri-business which was frozen and money was lost?
I lost a motza on agri businesses as well. I ended up paying to the ATO an amount far bigger than my original investment- an amount I couldn't really afford at the time. I had to borrow against my house to pay them.

But it was nothing to do with Peter's companies.

And I was the one who invested.
 
When logging on today I saw in the photos at the top in the member's gallery a picture of Peter Spann and F1 driver Michael Schumaker . I wonder if he invested in the agribusiness or land banking things too?
 
When logging on today I saw in the photos at the top in the member's gallery a picture of Peter Spann and F1 driver Michael Schumaker . I wonder if he invested in the agribusiness or land banking things too?

I heard on the grape vine that Schumacher got had pretty badly with investments he made in the middle east, that was part of the reason he made a come back to F1.
 
This was Peter's response (as posted on Facebook)

(Edit: this was also posted on the transcript)

He's been quiet on that page (and elsewhere) with regards to the investment companies, managed funds etc since

Though I did see he's active in NZ, Google..Peter Spann in Auckland
 
When I hear about investors losing a lot with failed investments such as Westpoint, Storm, recent CBA debacle, I must say that I don't have a lot of sympathy for these people.

No one forces them to invest. When I used to attend "property investment" seminars, I enjoyed watching their high pressure sales tactics (its quite entertaining), took their pens and ate their food, drank their drinks but left quickly at the end with my personal assurances that I would think about their sales pitch. The people who do invest do so for the perceived reward and driven by their own greed.

All investments are a risk and whether I take the advice of a paid financial advisor or do it myself, I carry the final responsibility. I don't think it is reasonable to be happy with the advisor only if winning and then suing them when losing. Otherwise, it is best to leave the millions in a term deposit.
 
All investments are a risk and whether I take the advice of a paid financial advisor or do it myself, I carry the final responsibility. I don't think it is reasonable to be happy with the advisor only if winning and then suing them when losing. Otherwise, it is best to leave the millions in a term deposit.

While I pretty much agree with that, imho the industry does have a lot to answer for.

I am pleased that, as of January 2013, my days as a financial adviser (financial salesman, lets be honest) with one of the major banks are over.

Personally it always irked me the way the funds managers would take their cut, irrespective of how well the investments were performing.

While it is the reality of market based investments, the truth is that most customers don't see value in negative returns. And why should they?
 
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