Lifetrack Superannuation Fund (AM Corporation) and its Traded
Policies Sub-Fund
The AM Group was established in the mid 1970s. In 1993 it
launched the LifeTrack Superannuation Fund which, at its peak,
managed more than $3 billion of funds in its various sub-funds.
In 1996 the Traded Policies Sub-Fund of LifeTrack was marketed
as a low-risk, income paying and capital accumulating investment.
Its stated objective was to provide a return of 2% above the
inflation rate. The Traded Policies Sub-Fund purchased traded
policies from a company called PolicyLink.
David Rich (LifeTrack's founder) and Alan Smith (LifeTrack's
former CEO) had interests in, and were directors of, PolicyLink and
LifeTrack.
Thousands of retirees," Mums and Dads", invested in the Traded
Policies Fund.
In 2002 the Traded Policies Fund experienced liquidity problems
and investors were told by LifeTrack to expect to suffer capital
losses when they withdrew their investments, and that there would
be a fund restructure.
On 28 March 2003, the Fund was sold to the IOOF group.
On 19 August 2003, the Australian Prudential Regulation
Authority (APRA) and the Australian Securities
& Investments Commission (ASIC) investigated
the AM Pooled Superannuation Trust and LifeTrack Superannuation
Fund. They obtained enforceable undertakings from David Smith and
Alan Rich banning them from being a director or officer of a
company holding an Australian Financial Services Licence for 10
years. Lifetrack Management was also ordered to pay $1 million to
APRA.
The action
Maurice Blackburn is conducting a class action in the Supreme
Court of New South Wales seeking damages from David Smith, Alan
Rich, AM Corporation, and LifeTrack Management.
The class action alleges that the 914 named investors on whose
behalf the claim is made suffered losses because of (amongst other
things): mismanagement of the Fund; misrepresentations by the
defendants; and breaches of duties.
Persons eligible to make a claim
This case is for the benefit of the 914 persons who are named in
court documents.
If you believe that you satisfy the same criterion, and would
like to participate in the class action,then we recommend that you
contact a member of the AM team at Maurice Blackburn on (03) 9605
2700 to register your interest with us. Registering your interest
with us does not oblige you to participate in any action or pay any
legal costs but it will enable us to consider your claim(s) and
whether there is any opportunity for you to participate. Separate
from registration, if you sign and we accept from you our
solicitor's retainer agreement, then we will owe you the usual
solicitor-client obligations.