David Schirmer is an Australian whose career has become noteworthy for a number of reasons. In 2006, he became infamous because of his association with the DVD release of The Secret, a documentary about the concept of the Law of Attraction, a fundamental principle of the New Thought movement which had begun in the United States with people like Ralf Waldo Emerson and writer Walace D Wattles. When The Secret became something of a hit internationally, Schirmer, as the only Australian contributor, received considerable attention in the media. However, Schirmer's time in the spot light changed when TV program A Current Affair confronted him with a group of dissatisfied customers from his past, and accused him of being a confidence-trickster. With story titles like The Secret Con and The Secret Scam, the ACA program continued to pursue Schirmer with claims that he owed money to people. The exact nature of the accusations was not made clear on the TV program but there have been determinations in the Victorian Supreme Court finding Schirmer guilty of all charges and sentenced. However he remains a free man. Also a number of blogs also appeared on the internet, claiming to shed further light on Schirmer. Since this controversy, David Schirmer has continued to work in the area of financial/personal share trading. He has run a number of financial seminars . These seminars typically involve the concept of The Law of Attraction and related success and achievement theories, as well as Schirmer's advice and theories about investing in the stock market. Schirmer's other activities include being with and working with children and the finance's of his local Christian Church. He remains a controversial figure with a number of Court decisions still to be handed down, but in recent times, with his low profile , public attention and interest has begun to wane.
On 23 June 2010 the Australia Securities and Investment Commission placed a notice on their frontpage website as follows:
"ASIC bans Victorian man from providing financial services for life.
Former contributor to the popular self-help product The Secret, Mr David Gary Schirmer of Warrandyte, Victoria, has been permanently banned from providing financial services following an ASIC investigation. ASIC found Mr Schirmer had failed to comply with financial services laws in relation to the promotion, operation and delivery of a trading and wealth creation program known as the ‘Platinum Super Traders’ (Platinum program). The Platinum program was operated by Mr Schirmer and Platinum Super Traders Pty Ltd."
ASIC found that between August 2004 and December 2006 Mr Schirmer: provided financial services on behalf of another person who carried on a financial services business while not being authorised to do so engaged in conduct in relation to a financial product or financial service that was misleading or deceptive, or was likely to mislead or deceive failed to act in accordance with representations made by him to participants in the 2005 and 2006 Platinum programs made false statements to participants in the 2005 and 2006 Platinum programs, and engaged in dishonest conduct.
ASIC found that rather than disclosing difficulties he was facing with aspects of the Platinum program, Mr Schirmer chose to deceive Platinum participants and deliberately prepared and provided them with a false document.
ASIC’s action against Mr Schirmer reinforces its commitment to protecting retail investors and financial consumers by removing individuals who don’t possess the honesty and integrity necessary to discharge their duties and obligations as financial services providers.[1] With the logo from the film The Secret appearing in the background behind the host, TV tabloid A Current Affair confronted Schirmer in a segment titled "The Secret Exposed", aired on 28 May 2007, with complaints from people who say Schirmer owed them money.[2]
On 12 February 2008 Bob Proctor's company, Lifesuccess Productions, L.L.C. and Schirmer's company, Life Success Pacific Rim PTY LTD, agreed to separate and that Schirmer's and his company would no longer use names, logos, etc, associated with Lifesuccess productions.[3] It is unknown whether Schirmer followed through on these court instructions.