Money Choice puts public lock on Twitter account as PIPA suspends corporate membership pending an investigation

Property investment firm Money Choice, founded by embattled SMSF property investment spruiker Matthew George, has changed the setting of its Twitter account to restrict access to its tweets to approved followers only.

The firm has also removed the words "SMSF" and "finance" from its Twitter description after ASIC cancelled the credit licence of Money Choice Pty Ltd (Money Choice)  on May 15.

Tweets from the @moneychoice Twitter account, which has 622 followers, were available for anyone to read last week.

The last tweet which appeared before the account’s status was changed to ‘protected’ appeared on May 16, a day after the ASIC announced it had banned Money Choice director Matthew George from engaging in credit activities for eight years and from providing financial services for three years.

It encouraged people to visit the company’s head office in South Yarra:

A protected account means tweets from that account may only be visible to approved Twitter followers.

Twitter recommends such as setting if “you want to control who sees your updates”.

The current Money Choice Twitter page:

This week, self-regulatory investor body the Property Investment Professionals of Australia (PIPA) suspended Matthew George’s Money Choice corporate membership in light of the ASIC decision and  said it would be conducting its own investigation into the matter.

PIPA chair Ben Kingsley said ASIC’s decision to crack down on the SMSF space highlights “ongoing issues within the fast-growing SMSF sector”.

Money Choice and Matthew George have the right to lodge an application for review of ASIC’s decision with the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.