BFCSA Blog

  Dear Victim of Sterling First Ponzi Structure   Thank you for your correspondence 3 August 2019, originally directed to the Prime Minister concerning your investment in the Sterling First group of companies.  Your correspondence has been referred to the Minister for Housing and and Assistant Treasurer and he has asked me to respond to you.  I REGRET that I am unable to provide further assistance to that contained in my letter to you of 2nd August 2019. In relation to your query about the return of Investment Funds, I conform my previous advice to you about contacting liquidators in the first instance.   For advice on Tenancy matters, you may also wish to contact the Consumer Protection division of the Western Australian Government Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety. The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) continues to update Sterling First investors via a dedicated page on its website, www.asic.gov.au. ...

  } Hon Josh Frydenberg MP Treasurer House of Representatives Parliament House PO Box 6022 Canberra ACT 2600       Dear Mr. Frydenberg This is not the “Holocaust” but as far as Australia goes, it doesn`t come any worse! The corporate fraud, regulatory negligence` and victim suffering, is off the scale! By the sheer volume of correspondence, you are aware of the Sterling New Life “40-year Lease for Life Scam”, ASIC`s criminal neglect, and the immense suffering of their sick and elderly victims. So, as a concerned citizen, I`m here adding my voice to their call for compensation! I`m asking you, as Treasurer, to way in to this issue and not look for the coward`s way out as ASIC has! They have looked for, and used, every technicality to dodge their responsibility to protect the most vulnerable from corrupt and illegal practices! The scam run by SNL was an...

2nd September 2019   Leader of the Opposition   and Shadow Ministers:   Hon Dr Jim Chalmers MP & Hon Bill Shorten MP Dear Mr Albanese,   I am writing to you in desperate need of your help for all the victims of the Sterling Group collapse with my mum being one of them.   She has become a victim of a crime, so called PONZI scheme and has lost $244,000 of her life savings and will potentially become homeless if this issue is not resolved quickly.  We are appealing to you in the hope that you can raise this matter in the Lower House ASAP, by way of a Matter of Public Importance and Senate Inquiry.   My mother is a 79 year old self-funded retiree who immigrated 15 years ago to join their children and call it their home for the rest of their life.  After the death of my father in...

Dr Jim Chalmers Shadow Treasurer PO Box 6022 House of Representatives, Parliament House Canberra ACT 2600     Dear Mr Chalmers   Many retirees have been aught up in a scam called the Sterling Newlife rent for life scheme of which my wife and I are one.  I refer you to a letter sent to Mr Albanese by Denise Brailey outlining the scam and the devastating affect it has had on retirees Dr Chalmers could you use your position in Parliament to refer the following questions to the treasure and assistant treasurer   Why is the Treasure stating the Sterling Affair is a state matter when clearly this is a Federal matter   Why is the Treasurer suggesting victims of Sterling write to the Ombudsman knowing full well that is a devious ASIC TRICK?  The same question relating to sending victims to AFCA that are controlled by the banks and hand...

23rd August 2019   Hon Jason Clare MP Shadow Minister for Housing and Homelessness PO Box 6022 House of Representatives Parliament House Canberra ACT2600       Dear Mr. Clare   Re: The collapse of the Sterling Life Group by inaction of ASIC.   This is our story of our unfortunate experience with the Sterling New LIfe Group.   In November 2016 after seeing Sterling New LIfe being heavily advertised in the newspaper and on radio by well known WA personalities we went to a meeting and got all the information. One of WAs best known personalities was there this gave us a bit of confidence as we did not think they would want their reputations tarnished by something that was a con. After doing a lot of homework on this and talking to others that had joined we signed up on the 26th July 2017. We took all our money...

Leader of the Federal Opposition Hon. Mr Anthony Albanese PO Box 6022 House of Representatives, Parliament House, Canberra, ACT 2600     Dear Mr Albanese Sterling New Life Scandal – WA, QLD, Victoria We would like to let you know of how we were involved with this scandal. After having investigated the company fully and seeking legal advice and financial advice, we were told that this was on the low side of risk. We entered into a “rent for Life” scheme in September, 2018 with the Sterling Group. In May, 2019 we were informed that the company had gone into voluntary administration. In June, 2019 we received a letter saying that the company had gone into liquidation. In 7 short months we had lost $280,00.00 to white collar crime in Australia. We understand that as far back as 2015 WA Consumer Affairs investigated Sterling and found breaches of the Corporations Law....

22 August 2019   Leader of the Australian Federal Opposition Hon. Mr Anthony Albanese MP PO Box 6022 House of Representatives, Parliament House, Canberra ACT 2600     STERLING NEW LIFE SCANDAL – WA, QLD, VIC MATTER OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE ROYAL COMMISSION INTO ASIC   Dear Mr Albanese   I am writing to you for help and hope this letter receives a better response than those I have already written to Mr Shipton, Mr Frydenberg and Mr Morrison.   After doing our due diligence my husband and I paid for a 40-year Sterling New Life lease in October 2017 expecting to see out our remaining years in a very secure unit in Mandurah. We thought that this money was placed in a trust but now it appears that it was more of a Ponzi scheme. We also invested $75,000 in units in late 2018 which were supposedly going to be listed...

26 August 2019 Stephen Jones MP Shadow Assistant Treasurer PO Box 6022 House of Representatives Parliament House Canberra ACT 2600   Sterling New Life Collapse Matter of Public Importance Call for Royal Commission into ASIC   Dear Mr Jones On July 3rd, I wrote to the Federal Treasurer with regard to the collapse of Sterling New Life through which we had arranged a life lease on a retirement housing package. We lost most of our life savings and housing security as a result, and it had come to our attention that our due diligence had failed to take into account the neglect of ASIC in its statutory responsibility for consumer protection. Apparently, it had been red-flagging the Sterling group for some time and did not deem this important enough to stop the product that we and many other senior citizens bought into.  Further details of our experience are submitted in a...

22 August 2019   Dr Jim Chalmers Shadow Treasurer PO Box 6022 House of Representatives Parliament House Canberra ACT 2600   STERLING NEW LIFE SCANDAL – WA, QLD, VIC ROYAL COMMISSION INTO ASIC   Dear Dr Chalmers   I am writing to you, and other members of the Opposition, regarding the Sterling New Life and ASIC fiascos in the hope that you will ask a number of questions of the Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Assistant Treasurer Michael Sukkar when Parliament resumes in September.   After doing our due diligence my husband and I paid for a 40-year Sterling New Life lease in October 2017 expecting to see out our remaining years in a very secure unit in Mandurah. We thought that this money was placed in a trust but now it appears that it was more of a Ponzi scheme and our money was used as a personal piggy bank for...

Senator Katy Gallagher Shadow Minister for Finance   PO Box 6100   The Senate, Parliament House,  Canberra ACT 2600   Dear Senator   I am writing this letter in regard to The Collapse of the STERLING LIFE GROUP and  Failure of the Australian Securities and Investment Commission. Back in April 2015 my wife and I were invited to look into this wonderful scheme to be able to live rent free yes RENT FREE not an investment. So after getting other opinions we decided it was for us. We proceeded to sell Sterling trust our family home for $370k invest the amount $300k with Sterling let the investment money grow for our children whilst we lived in the house for a period of 20  years without worrying freeing up some pension for us and my boys would get the money at the end perfect fit for everyone  But ASIC knew of the likelihood of failure of...

20th August 2019   The Hon Mr Albanese MP PO Box 6022 House of Representatives :arliament House Canberra ACT 2600   Dear Mr Albanese   we need your help in the Sterling fiasco   Denise Brailey has written to you a  very concise and informed letter, which spells out our predicament in detail.   Put briefly we lent monies to Sterling in 2018 and the interest we received would pay our rent for the rest of our lives  However unbeknown to us ASIC had received complaints about this company as far back as 2015 and continued to turn a blind eye to their activities.  Sterling continued to take funds from unsuspecting retirees and use them in whatever way they saw fit, thus snubbing their noses at the law of the land    Mr Albanese ASIC need to be investigated by a senate committee as they were derelict in their duty and caused...

26th August 2019   Dear  Dr Chalmers   After investing our money into SNL, we were assured that we would be secure with a 40 year lease for our retirement. My Husband passed away in April this year after suffering with Cancer. In May I was faced with the bombshell that our money had gone and Sterling had gone into liquidation. As you may understand, it has caused a lot of stress and worry as to what I was going to do , especially as now I am living on a single pension and face a very uncertain future. The people who have stolen our hard earned money ie, Ray and Ryan Jones are criminals and should be locked away for this. I am among so many other people who have invested into Sterling.  Some  are very ill and also in danger of losing their homes.  Where do they go?  We...

To: Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Mr James Shipton.   ASIC and the Australian Government are a disgrace and an embarrassment! The Facts. ASIC knowingly allowed Sterling First and predecessor companies to continue ripping people off for over a decade! ASIC failed to do their job correctly with devastating consequences! Victims of the Sterling First fraud are left with NO MONEY and NO HOME! The ASIC, Government members and Government departments DO NOT CARE! The corrupt protect the corrupt!   The Joke. Australian Securities and Investments Commission Independent Australian Government Body   “The Australian Securities and Investments Commission is an independent Australian government body that acts as Australia's corporate regulator. ASIC's role is to enforce and regulate company and financial services laws to protect Australian consumers, investors and creditors”.  When did they do this to save the Sterling first victims? They knew and did NOTHING!    The Government Prime Minister Scott...

Dr Jim Chalmers                                                                                             Shadow Treasurer                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Dear Dr Chalmers We have been writing to ASIC, the Treasurer and the Prime Minister.  No-one is responding. I write his letter to complain about the lack of proper investigation into the Sterling New Life scheme aimed at elderly pensioners. This...

Dear Mr Carey We sold our house back in 2016 and invested in a well- advertised scheme where we moved into a rental property with promise of the interest from our investment would pay our rent .It failed and we now have lost all our investment and we are obliged to pay our rent out of our pension which leaves us little to live on.  My complaint to you is that the company we invested in was Sterling New life and we understand that as far back as 2010 WA Consumer Affairs was not happy with the structure and advised ASIC of the probable problems. It appears that ASIC did nothing to 1. Advise the people of a probable white collar ponzi scheme  2. Investigate the scheme at any length or if at all.  3. Bring the directors to task by asking for their business plan.  In our opinion ASIC has...

 Prime Minister The Hon Scott Morrison Sterling New Life Western Australia   Dear sir We wish to give you more information on the Sterling Life investment program here in WA. 1. It has caused a lot of stress and heartache for people here. 2. On the night of the Election we received an email saying all our money was gone and the company was in administration. We learnt about this from our landlord who is also a victim in the collapse of this company. 3. The directors took all our money and Centrelink deemed us as homeowners so no rent assistance was allowed. Some Centrelink offices did it differently and gave rent assistance and now the investors are being asked to pay it back. 4, We now have no asset to fall back on and we were promised a lifelong lease, 5. We are now paying twice to live, once to...

  Prime Minister of Australia Dear Sir I write his letter to complain about the lack of proper investigation into the Sterling New Life scheme aimed at elderly pensioners. This idea was to invest into the company trust fund which in turn invested our money to pay a long lease in a new home. We looked at this idea and found it appealing and consequently went ahead and signed up in Sept 2017. It was great and we were happy and content. In July 2018 we received a phone call from Michael Darch of ASIC asking were we happy with our situation and did we know what we had entered into. Some 2-3 days later we had an email apologizing to us and hoping he had not upset us with his enquiry. May of 2019 the company was in administration and we along with 120 other older couples lost over $270,000...

Sterling New Life Mr Frydenberg Dear Sir This letter is to complain about the Department of ASIC. You allow them a budget of some $550 million dollars per annum. Do you feel you(we) are getting value for money? In their so-called mission statement, the final words read “to protect Australian investors and creditors”. You may by this time have heard of the slick marketing structure by Sterling New Life Company. with a further 12 other companies to move money around to cover their tracks from the tax Dept. This company was reported to ASIC in 2010 by the WA Consumers Affairs Dept. stating this company was suspect and the CEO and Directors were well known to have previously moved on the public with heavy losses to the investors. I therefore ask 1.Did the Director of ASIC know of the Ponzi scheme back in 2010? 2. What if anything did the Dept...

6th August 2019 Hon Scott Morrison MP   Prime Minister Parliament House, Canberra ACT 2600     STERLING NEW LIFE collapse   Dear Prime Minister I am following up from my previous letter to you concerning the loss of our monies of $110,000 plus and our retirement home due to the Sterling First collapse. We have previously sent mail and I might add had not one response from anyone including Yourself, Mr James Shipton, Mr Josh Frydenberg concerning the compensation we believe we are urgently due. As you are very aware of ASIC inaction in this fiasco and now after paying taxes for the last 55 years and being a loyal subject we have been left with nothing. We are effectively having to pay for accommodation just to have a roof over our heads. Even though these funds was paid in advance to maintain a roof over our heads. This is...

3 August 2019 The Hon Scott Morrison MP Prime Minister Parliament House CANBERRA ACT 2600 Compensation Sterling First Collapse and call for Royal Commission into the Australian Securities and Investment Commission   Dear Prime Minister I follow up my letter of July 13th concerning our loss of $254000 and our retirement accommodation due to the Sterling First collapse. It followed similar correspondence to ASIC chairman, Mr James Shipton, and the Federal Treasurer, the Hon. Josh Frydenberg concerning the compensation we believe we are urgently due. Our only direct response so far has been a letter from Treasury telling us to take our claim to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA). However, we are advised that this would be a waste of time as a history of similar complaints reveals that, for the most part, such submissions are investigated, mined for data and then dismissed. The need is urgent as this money represents our carefully planned accommodation security,...