The Financial Services Commission
("FSC") in Gibraltar announced today that it has begun proceedings in the
Supreme Court of Gibraltar against Vanguard Equities Limited ("Vanguard")
for an injunction that Vanguard cease carrying on, or holding itself out as
carrying on, investment business in contravention of section 3 of the
Financial Services Act 1989, and for other Orders, including an Order
aimed at restoring investors to the position in which they were before
entering into transactions with Vanguard.
The FSC has evidence that Vanguard has been holding itself out as
providing investment services from within Gibraltar. Investors in a number
of countries throughout the world had been contacted by Vanguard which had
tried to sell them shares, particularly in a company called Old Dominion
Holdings Inc. Vanguard, which is a company registered in Gibraltar, had not
been authorised by the FSC to conduct investment business. The company has
used addresses in Gibraltar and Marbella, southern Spain.