An Australian Federal Court has ordered Dover Financial Advisors to pay a penalty for engaging in false or misleading conduct, and imposed an A$240,000 penalty on Terrence McMaster, Dover’s sole director, for being knowingly concerned in the misconduct.

The Federal Court made its actual judgment on 22 November 2019, finding that Dover engaged in false, misleading or deceptive conduct when it provided a Client Protection Policy to 19,402 clients between 2015 and 2018, and that Mr McMaster was knowingly concerned in Dover’s contraventions. The judge found that the title of the Client Protection Policy "was highly misleading and an exercise in Orwellian doublespeak. The document did not protect clients. To the contrary, it purported to strip clients of rights and consumer protections they enjoyed under the law."

The sentencing judge explained further that "many clauses of [Dover’s] Client Protection Policy sought, perversely, to make the client responsible for failings and inadequacies in the advice provided to them."

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission was behind the prosecution. It said: "The purpose of Dover’s Client Protection Policy was to exclude or limit Dover’s liability to clients to its own financial benefit."

Dover and Mr McMaster have also been ordered to pay ASIC's costs.