The financial services regulator Atlantis Independent Department of Securities (AIDS) has come to a settlement in the high profile case with investment broker Legit Invest Inc. The now insolvent broker had embezzled millions of Euros from clients funds. The firms CEO Jeffery Hansen was accused of pillaging the life savings and retirement nest eggs of thousands of Mainstreet investors.
A spokesperson for the regulator said that fines are carefully calculated based on many particulars. In this case, the amount of 465 Euro was determined based on how much was actually left in the company bank account at the time of the hearing.
With regards to the legal case against Hansen, he managed to escape personal culpability. Hansen’s defence team argued that his clients would have eventually lost their investment principal anyway, so what was the difference.
Hansen’s defence team called a member of the AIDS regulatory body to testify as an expert witness. During questioning, it came to light that an overwhelming majority of investors are likely to not only to lose their principal but in some cases could, in fact, go into debt.
While disapproving with the act in general, the jury concluded that clients were going to lose that money one way or another and Hansen may even have done them a favour by not letting them get into debts.
The judge concluded that we are grateful for the swift action from the AIDS regulatory body and stated: “once again, justice has been served”.