Misled investors ask court not to liquidate company

29 clients who entrusted their life savings with the All Invest Company Ltd only to be told their investments failed, this morning filed a court application requesting the courts to stop the company from filing for liquidation.

The application read that the 29 plaintiffs claimed the financial services company and its representative Wallace Falzon had misled them about their investments.

They said that Falzon told his clients their investments were capital-guaranteed and that he had verbally confirmed this to each of them. The investment company went as far as pledging the investment would return a guaranteed interest. However, the investments folded, and the majority of clients, most of whom had invested funds deriving from a golden handshake, lost all their life savings.

In one of the cases the investment was done by the parents of a disabled child to pay for his treatment from the interest gained from their investment. The parent's aim was that the child would have a secure financial future.

In June this year, the Malta Financial Services Authority suspended the investment services licence of All Invest Co. Ltd. after identifying a series of regulatory breaches. "In a number of instances, All Invest failed to act in the best interest of investors." the MFSA had concluded.

Wallace Falzon, as director of All Invest, filed a court application declaring the company to be in liquidation and requested the appointment of a provisional administrator.

In today's application, the 29 plaintiffs requested the court to preclude the company from filing for liquidation as the company still holds their financial portfolios, they have financial and legal interest in the company and the company is facing various legal proceedings filed by other clients.

Lawyers Stefano Filletti, Jennifer Shaw and Frank Testa signed the application.