MAS Clearsight, a multi-line investment banking advisory business, has had to compensate investors for a scheme that broke the Dubai Financial Services Authority's ban on promoting investment opportunities in the wrong way.

Between August 2010 and July 2011, MAS Clearsight marketed the opportunity to invest in the production of three limited-edition large-format books, with its front-office staff casting their net wide for HNWs. The minimum subscription in one of the books was generally US$125,000 over a time-frame of between 8 and 24 months. After that, investors were due to be repaid 100% of their initial investment plus a minimum return of 50% of their total subscription. MAS Clearsight raised $4,888,484 in toto from 25 investors. Of those, 21 were (presumably HNW) individuals. $1,070,000 came from the former CEO of MAS, the head of the MAS investment banking division, and Clearsight Capital Ltd (a sister company to MAS).

The books' publisher (name strangely deleted by the DFSA in its 'decision notice') was incorporated in Jersey. The three books were on Formula One, the Journey to Makkah (i.e. Mecca - made into a film) and Sachin Tendulkar, a retired Indian cricketer who is widely thought of as one of the greatest batsmen of all time. For each book a special purpose vehicle or SPV was incorporated in Guernsey. The SPVs were owned wholly by a company incorporated in Guernsey (owner's name blanked out), which the Royal Court of Guernsey ordered to be wound up in March 2013 because it was burdened with too much debt.

The arrangements to which they signed up in each book constituted a 'foreign fund' according to Dubai's Collective Investment Law 2010. By promoting the investment opportunity in the way it did, MAS Clearsight contravened the marketing prohibition in Art 50 and DFSA Collective Investment Rule 15.1.15.

The DFSA has ordered MAS Clearsight to reimburse the investors and has censured it. If the firm had had more money, the regulator would have fined it.