Australia’s corporate regulator has promised to pursue and hold to account those responsible for the A$500 million-plus collapse of two investment schemes.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) said it was continuing to investigate people and entities connected to the Shield Master Fund and the First Guardian Master Fund.
Macquarie Group (ASX: MQG) on Thursday agreed to compensate investors for A$321 million of losses connected to Shield, for which its Macquarie Investment Management Limited subsidiary was trustee for an investment platform that offered the fund.
The trustee for the other investment platform that offered Shield, Equity Trustees, is defending Federal Court proceedings launched by ASIC alleging due diligence failures.
An ASIC spokesperson said it was conducting multiple investigations into conduct connected to First Guardian, a managed investment scheme operated and managed by Falcon Capital.
It was probing people and entities connected to First Guardian, including marketing lead generators, financial advisers and the firms that authorised them, trustees that made First Guardian available via platforms, auditors and scheme operators.
ASIC was also continuing to investigate Infrastructure Partners-owned Diversa and Equity Trustees over their roles as trustees for platforms offering First Guardian, and Netwealth, which offered the fund via its platform.
ASIC said its investigation into Falcon Capital and its director, David Anderson was ongoing and it could not comment further, having frozen his assets and wound up Falcon and First Guardian.
“Our first priority for Shield and First Guardian has been to preserve any remaining assets of the schemes to the extent they are available, so they can be recovered for investors,” the spokesperson said in a statement to Azzet.
“Our next priority will be holding people and companies to account.”
The regulator also recently expanded legal action against former financial adviser Ferras Merhi, whose businesses allegedly advised clients to invest in Shield and First Guardian.
At the time of writing, Netwealth (ASX: NWL) shares were 70 cents (2.38%) lower at $28.96, capitalising the company at $7.11 billion, while Equity Trustees (ASX: EQT) shares were down 11 cents (0.46%) at $23.74, valuing it at $635.67 million.
