Former financial adviser cops minimal fine

"Judge Lance said McEwen had provided an affidavit setting out financial means." An affidavit is a sworn statement put in writing. When you use an affidavit, you're claiming that the information within the document is true and correct to the best of your knowledge. The FMA earlier said its investigations uncovered McEwen made inaccurate statements about the company's holding of shares on behalf of investors, leading to the stop order. Given this adviser’s track record of deception is the judge really going to trust anything that he says now via an affidavit. Surely our legal system can’t be that credulous. And as far as safeguarding the integrity New Zealand’s financial markets goes that eroded the moment MBIE allowed a well-known NZ property investment company to have a FAP licence. The FMA despite recently censuring this outfit has done nothing now to address the significant conflict of interest that exits with the financial advice currently been provided to clients by this FAP licence holder. What is the point of even having a code of conduct for financial advice providers if Wellington bureaucrats don’t do the jobs that the NZ taxpayer is supposedly paying them to do? I think it’s time now to bring the above to the attention of a senior politician with it been an election year.

This is a sad reflection on the judicial system, and goes against the ambitions of the FMA to provide consumers with confidence when dealing with the industry.