ASIC abandons elderly Australians
Two years after the Banking Royal Commission, it seems nothing has changed. Over 140 elderly Australians have been fleeced of their life savings and face imminent eviction from their homes because the financial regulator, ASIC, failed to protect them from, or even warn them of, serial Ponzi schemers with multitudes of victims from previous scams in their wake.
Victims of the Sterling First scandal are urging parliamentarians to support immediate compensation for ASIC's negligence and maladministration, which was exposed during the Senate Inquiry into Sterling First.
Victims of the Sterling First scandal are urging parliamentarians to support immediate compensation for ASIC's negligence and maladministration, which was exposed during the Senate Inquiry into Sterling First.
We must fix the system
The elderly victims of the Sterling First scandal are the canary in the mine of Australia’s financial system. Two and a half years after the banking royal commission, their plight is a disturbing warning that the government and the regulator, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), have not cleaned up the system that made Australia what then-ASIC Chair Greg Medcraft in 2014 called a “paradise” for white-collar criminals.
Now 140 retirees and elderly pensioners face imminent eviction from their homes because ASIC failed to protect them from, or even warn them of, serial Ponzi schemers with multitudes of victims from previous failures in their wake, in which Australian citizens have collectively lost hundreds of millions of dollars. Instead of compensating the victims and forcing ASIC to lift its game, the government is effectively throwing the pensioners out on the street.
Now 140 retirees and elderly pensioners face imminent eviction from their homes because ASIC failed to protect them from, or even warn them of, serial Ponzi schemers with multitudes of victims from previous failures in their wake, in which Australian citizens have collectively lost hundreds of millions of dollars. Instead of compensating the victims and forcing ASIC to lift its game, the government is effectively throwing the pensioners out on the street.
Get involved
The suffering endured by the elderly tenants scammed by the Sterling First rent-for-life scheme is finally getting political attention. The Senate Inquiry exposed how the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) allowed Sterling directors, with a history of ripping off investors in failed financial schemes, to prey on vulnerable elderly Australians. All Australians who support the fight to clean up the financial system should phone and email the Senators in your state to demand they support immediate compensation for the elderly victims of ASIC's negligence.