UPDATE: Maréo Nel misses deadline to refund investors
According to some investors, one of whom invested R200 000 with Nel, they still have not been refunded, and several have taken it up with the police.
MBOMBELA – Maréo-John Nel (22), an unauthorised trader who signed an enforceable undertaking to the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) to refund investors before April 30, has missed his deadline.
He has also not yet paid the fine of R100 000 the FSCA had imposed on him. Nel, a well-known former Lowvelder, accepted deposits from friends and acquaintances to trade in forex on their behalf. The FSCA found Nel to be in contravention of the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act (FAIS) as he was not registered to provide financial services, and fined him R100 000. He also had to provide proof of payments that he had paid back his investors by May 10.
According to some investors, one of whom invested R200 000 with Nel, they still have not been refunded, and several have taken it up with the police. They wished not to be named.
Lowvelder approached Nel, who referred this journalist to his attorney, Markus Saayman, to find out why he had not fulfilled his promise yet. According to Saayman, submissions have been made on Nel’s behalf to the FSCA, prior to the April 30 deadline, to negotiate a repayment plan for the deposits he took from investors. He indicated that Nel was devoted to honouring a repayment proposal as soon as possible. He said Nel had not paid the fine, because the FSCA had said that paying back the investors should be his main priority.
“We are in the process of supplying the FSCA with the information they requested before they can make the final decision,” Saayman said.
This was confirmed by the FSCA. “We are considering the proposal and we will focus on the investors’ interest while doing so,” said Gerhard van Deventer, head of enforcement of the FSCA.
“Nel was in contravention of section 7(1) of the FAIS Act,” said Van Deventer. Someone found guilty of such a contravention in a court of law will end up with a criminal record. “However, we did not refer the matter to the police or National Prosecuting Authority. We considered it sufficient to deal with it on an administrative basis,” he said in February when Lowvelder first reported on the matter.
According to information contained in the signed undertaking between Nel and the FSCA, Nel had offered his clients a guaranteed return of 30 per cent per month on their investment, collecting approximately R3 096 300 from them. He was, according to the FSCA, conducting his business under the same name of Simply FX. Neither Nel nor Simply FX was authorised to provide financial services. The FSCA found that the above amount was received from 2018 to 2020. Some of these funds were invested by clients and by September 2020, he had paid out R1 113 500 to them, but R2 030 800 was still owed.
Nel admitted to the FSCA that he had taken deposits from clients to trade in forex on their behalf. He also admitted to providing unauthorised financial services. The investigation followed after a complaint was received by the FSCA on January 30. As a result of the outcome of the investigation and an admission of its findings, Nel provided the FSCA with an enforceable undertaking. He undertook to return all funds received. “Our desire is that he pays back the investors, and it will enjoy preference in our actions,” Van Deventer had said previously.
