ASIC continues to target financial planners over Trio Capital collapse
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is taking ongoing regulatory action against a number of financial planners who "breached the law" in relation to Trio Capital.
To date, nine individuals have either been banned from providing financial services, been prevented from managing corporations, voluntarily removed themselves from the financial services industry, or been prevented from acting as a registered auditor, according to ASIC.
Trio investment manager Shawn Richard is the only individual to have been jailed. Richard is serving a sentence of three years and nine months, with a minimum of two-and-a-half years to be served.
But when it comes to the alleged "ultimate controller of the Trio group", Jack Flader, the regulator has admitted there is currently "insufficient evidence" to prove a breach of Australian law.
According to the Parliamentary Joint Committee report into the collapse of Trio Capital, Flader - an American citizen - was at one stage a resident of Hong Kong and is currently believed to live in Thailand.
ASIC said it would provide information relating to Flader to the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Crime Commission, adding that it continued to liaise with overseas regulatory agencies in relation to Trio.
The regulator is also investigating the conduct of the individuals who were responsible for the failure of the ARP Growth Fund.
"ASIC's investigations indicate the reasons ARP Growth Fund's losses appear different from those of the Astarra Strategic Fund - another Trio fund.
"To date, the documents in ASIC's possession show the ARP Growth Fund failed following substantial investment in an offshore fund that had exposure to collateralised, leveraged credit default swap agreements. The investments failed during the global financial crisis," said ASIC.
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