The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has barred Christian Oey, a former director in the financial and insurance services sectors, from managing corporations for five years.
This action follows Oey’s involvement in the collapse of three companies.
Based in Dural, New South Wales, Oey held director roles at Clickthru Pty Ltd and O’Corp Media Pty Ltd from May 1999 to November 2018. Additionally, he was an officer of Cornerstone Growth Capital Pty Ltd between September 2019 and March 2021.
These companies operated under several business names, including “Avoid Bankruptcy,” “Cornerstone Global Capital,” and “NoBankruptcy.com.au.”
ASIC’s investigation revealed several failures in Oey’s duties as a director and officer, including:
At the time of ASIC’s decision, the three companies owed a total of $5,850,309 to creditors, which included $482,289 to the Australian Taxation Office and over $500,000 to small business creditors.
ASIC said its decision to disqualify Oey was supported by supplementary reports from the liquidators of Clickthru and Cornerstone Growth Capital, Gavin Moss of Chifley Advisory and Erwin Rommel Alfonso of Smith Hancock, respectively. It provided funding from the Assetless Administration Fund to assist in preparing these reports.
Oey’s disqualification from managing corporations is effective until June 6, 2029. He has the right to seek a review of ASIC’s decision by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
Under Section 206F of the Corporations Act, ASIC can disqualify a person from managing corporations for up to five years if they have been an officer of two or more companies that were liquidated and reported as unable to pay their debts within a seven-year period.
ASIC maintains a register of banned and disqualified individuals, listing those prohibited from managing corporations, auditing self-managed superannuation funds, or practicing in the financial services or credit industry.
Addressing the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services last month, ASIC Chair Joe Longo highlighted the surge in the commission’s enforcement activities since its last committee appearance in April.
“Our enforcement outcomes are strong – our record shows that ASIC is securing materially higher penalties than it did a decade ago. We also pursue difficult cases where the outcome is not guaranteed, but we consider it important to test the law,” he said.
