Oz Group man still calls Australia home

Jeffrey Revell-Reade, who admits to receiving "a bit of bad press", is the subject of a court application by Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) in Britain, which is seeking orders freezing #3 million ($4.9 million) from the sale of Mr Revell-Reade's house in Wimbledon, South London, under proceeds-of-crime laws.

Mr Revell-Reade, 45, is listed in the Austrian phone book at an address at the luxury ski resort of Kitzbuhel. But BusinessDay has established Mr Revell-Reade lives in an apartment in the Sydney suburb of Darling Point and flies regularly to Melbourne to attend his Oz Group financial services companies.

When contacted by BusinessDay, Mr Revell-Reade confirmed he was planning to sell Oz Group. We revealed his ownership role in the business in February.

He said he visited Oz Group "infrequently" although he had visited more regularly recently "because of the press problems, just to give them assurances that the shareholder is not a scumbag".

Action by the crime agency follows Mr Revell-Reade's colourful career in the world of so-called "boiler rooms", in which unlicensed brokers market US penny stocks to unsuspecting and often elderly investors.

Mr Revell-Reade said of the agency action: "I feel I have been drawn into an unnecessary case, and [I'm] a bit of a victim, actually.

"I have already demonstrated to the [British] authorities that there is no proceeds of crime," he said.

He said, however, the court had given the agency until September to provide further evidence.

Mr Revell-Reade's track record includes being named in the press as the controlling figure identified by the British Financial Services Authority in its report into Pacific Continental Securities.

The authority found the broker recklessly or deliberately misled customers between 2005 and 2007.

Mr Revell-Reade said he had dealt only with institutions, not private individuals, as an "introducer" of stocks. "I can't be held responsible for what happens thereafter."

The Oz Group acts as an administrator to $540 million in superannuation funds and, through Endeavour Securities, acts as a responsible entity for a further $57 million invested in the Pinnacle Investment Fund. Mr Revell-Reade denies he is in any position to control the companies.

The managing director of the Oz Group, Nigel Westoby, said: "He pops in from time to time, every now and then ... He has absolutely no control over the organisation."

Mr Westoby said a buyer had been found for its Endeavour Securities business and a sale of Oz Group's remaining fund administration business was under way.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has expressed no concerns about Mr Revell-Reade's ownership of the business, saying he was not a director or an officer of the financial services companies' ASIC licences.

Independent trustees Equity Trustees and CCSL have control over the assets in the super funds. Atchison Consultants, the independent investment manager for the Pinnacle fund, has provided BusinessDay with a description of brand-name managers of assets within the Pinnacle fund.