An appeal by Mr Yingjie Wang (also known as Jay Wang), a lawyer and accountant from Sydney, against his permanent banning from providing financial services has been dismissed by the Federal Court of Australia.聽聽
In February 2017 ob体育 permanently banned Mr Wang from providing financial services after finding that he had acted dishonestly in causing Easy Capital Global Pty Ltd to use an investor鈥檚 money for unauthorised purposes, and that he was not of good fame or character (refer: 17-036MR).
At the time of the relevant conduct Mr Wang was a director and sole signatory of the bank account of Easy Capital Global Pty Ltd, a company which held an Australian financial services licence.
Mr Wang subsequently appealed the banning decision to the聽Administrative Appeals Tribunal (refer: 18-156MR) and then, to the Federal Court of Australia.聽
In dismissing Mr Wang鈥檚 appeal, the Federal Court upheld the AAT鈥檚 findings that Mr Wang:
- had聽a dishonest state of mind when he transferred an investor鈥檚 money from聽Easy Capital Global Pty Ltd鈥檚 Australian bank account to the bank account of a company in the Seychelles with which Mr Wang had a very close聽relationship, at a time when he knew the investor was claiming the return聽of his money;
- sent聽emails to the investor that were misleading; and
- is聽not of good fame and character.
The Federal Court also found that the misleading emails sent by Mr Wang to the investor was conduct in relation to a financial product for the purposes of s1041H(1) of the Corporations Act (contrary to the AAT鈥檚 finding).
ob体育 Deputy Chair Dan Crennan QC said, 鈥楾he Federal Court鈥檚 decision demonstrates that ob体育鈥檚 administrative decision-making is robust and that ob体育鈥檚 banning decisions, which are key protective measures,聽are well capable of withstanding multiple challenges.
鈥榦b体育鈥檚 banning powers are vitally important such that ob体育 can directly and expeditiously remove anyone who acts dishonestly from the financial services industry鈥�, he said.
The Federal Court decision, handed down on 21 July 2019 (updated 21 August 2019), can be downloaded .
Mr Wang鈥檚 banning is recorded on ob体育鈥檚 Banned and Disqualified Persons Register