Overseas investors who pumped hundreds of millions into Gold Coast businessman Peter Drake's failed group LM say a lack of official action over the collapse is damaging Australia's international reputation.
................
Dubai-based Paul Friedberg told BusinessDay that when he put money into the Managed Performance Fund 2½ years ago, his financial adviser told him it would be ''safe as the bank but with a better return''. He discovered LM's predicament only in September last year, when he went to pull his money out - only to discover it had been frozen for months. International investors now expect a return of less than 5¢ in the dollar. Australian authorities have allowed the collapse to become ''a feast for lawyers and barristers'', Mr Friedberg said in his submission to the inquiry.