Dear Mr Frydenberg
Sterling Life Group Collapse and Criminal Negligence by the Australian Securities and investment Commission
I am writing to you to express my anger, disappointment pain and suffering that has been brought about by the collapse of the Sterling Group and the abysmal failure of ASIC to protect consumers and their hard-earned assets.
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 on the ASX within weeks. This never happened and again Ponzi scheme springs to mind. We have worked hard all our lives and just wanted to enjoy our retirement in peace and quiet with a few simple pleasures and leave an inheritance for our children.
Can you even imagine the amount of stress and anguish that we are going through at the moment? All our money is gone, disappeared, stolen and we face the very real prospect of being homeless in the near future. This is an intolerable situation for us and the many other vulnerable seniors who have been left in this position through no fault of our own. If ASIC had warned us about or closed down this shonky business then this would not have turned into such a diabolical disaster. I believe ASIC were wilfully negligent by not acting upon information, which would have had the potential to prevent massive financial loss and ruin, and allowing people like us to be preyed upon by known offenders.
I understand that The Treasurer meets with ASIC once a month to discuss corporate trends and activities. Was the name ‘Sterling’ ever mentioned or the names of the directors who have been linked to corporate collapses in the past? If not, that is a failure on ASICs part as it turns out they had been aware of some irregularities since at least 2015. If so, then it is again a failure on ASICs part as they did not take any action.
Whatever the answer it can be see that ASIC has FAILED in its duty of consumer protection for these innocent pensioners and has indeed FAILED many more over the last 20 years or so. This is criminal negligence, possibly corruption at the highest level, a disgraceful way for a regulator to behave and it must not be allowed to continue. Decent citizens don’t want ASIC to be a glorified librarian, they deserve an agency who will work for them and fulfil their roll of consumer protection.
My money, security and lifestyle have been stolen from me and at this time in my life I have no opportunity to recoup these losses. Where is the enjoyment in life, this is not the way that I wanted to live in retirement!
I am requesting that you, Mr Frydenberg, take whatever immediate action is necessary to see that all victims of the Sterling Group including tenants, landlords and investors are refunded the $36 million in compensation of their stolen funds quickly as possible.