The public prosecutor’s office is currently investigating the Berlin BWF Foundation for possible fraud. In a guest article for FONDS professionell ONLINE, Johannes Fiala and Peter A. Schramm explain that this case could also have consequences for brokers.
Financial investment advisors who have brokered products of the “Bund Deutscher Treuhandstiftungen” could lose their IHK licence – and not only get into trouble with their pecuniary damage liability insurance. This is the central message for intermediaries in an article written by the Munich lawyer Johannes Fiala and the actuary Peter A. Schramm for FONDS professionell ONLINE.
The company, which also appeared as the “Berlin Business and Finance Foundation” or “BWF Foundation”, received a joint visit from the financial supervisory authority Bafin and the Berlin police on 25 February. The reason for the house search was a suspicion of commercial fraud and violation of the German Banking Act (KWG). The investigations were directed against ten persons who allegedly offered potential investors an investment product in which they suggested the purchase of physical gold.
If the accusations against the company prove to be true, it will once again be a major investor scandal: according to media reports, just under 6,000 investors subscribed to around 6,200 contracts, into which a total of around 57 million euros are said to have flowed. (jb)
Interested readers can find the original article in the attached Word document.
by Dr. Johannes Fiala and Dipl.-Math. Peter A. Schramm
published in Fonds Online, 17.04.2015
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