The Federal Court ordered that advice firms Venture Egg and United Financial Advice, which have been connected to the $1 billion Shield and First Guardian collapse, will be wound up following an application by ASIC.
The court released orders that also granted ASIC permission to file an amended originating process against both firms which will seek pecuniary penalties.
But ASIC agreed with the court that it won’t take any steps to force either firm to pay money without court permission and that any penalties would not be recoverable through liquidation, which limits any impact on creditors.
Renee Sarah Di Carlo was appointed as liquidator to both companies by the court on 25 March 2026.
Both firms were led by Ferras Merhi who was licensed by InterPrac Financial Planning as an authorised representative of Venture Egg, but also ran Financial Services Group Australia which was self-licensed (since cancelled by ASIC). InterPrac had ceased authorising Merhi in May 2025.
Sequoia Financial Group, the owner of InterPrac, announced to the ASX on Monday it was selling the licensee for $50,000 to Conquest Investment Partners, due to mounting legal liabilities and advisers in the network being blacklisted by most major platforms.
InterPrac is being sued by ASIC for due diligence failures relating to authorised representatives Merhi and Rhys Reilly for their distribution of the Shield and First Guardian funds.
ASIC has alleged Merhi signed 6000 Statements of Advice within a three-year period and used marketing companies to push potential clients to his financial advice businesses while receiving nearly $18 million in upfront advice fees and $19 million from entities associated with the funds to market them.
The regulator also alleged that Merhi falsely represented that he had no vested interest in recommending the funds.
Sequoia managing director Garry Crole has publicly lobbied for platform trustees to utilise their operational risk reserves or ask for government assistance to remediate clients, often arguing they were just as culpable as any other party.
Macquarie and Netwealth both agreed with ASIC to remediate clients to the original starting investment, and both platforms banned new business from InterPrac advisers.
The federal court confirmed last week that Macquarie breached the law by failing to place the Shield Master Fund on a watch list for heightened monitoring, a concession made by the wealth giant in the Statement of Agreed Facts as part of the settlement announced last year where it agreed to remediate consumers.
ASIC Commissioner Alan Kirkland told the Law Council of Australia’s Superannuation Lawyers Conference in Hobart on Thursday that the court reinforced the regulator’s action against the trustee.
Equity Trustees and Diversa Trustees – the other two platform trustees responsible for onboarding Shield and First Guardian – are in court fighting allegations from ASIC they failed in their oversight responsibilities.
Most major platforms that weren’t caught up in the collapse also banned new business from InterPrac advisers. BT, AMP and CFS announced restrictions on InterPrac advisers earlier this year, while HUB24 ended new business from InterPrac advisers.
Investments in Shield and First Guardian grew due to a sophisticated network of lead generators that contacted people who used online “superannuation health check” advertisements and used high-pressure sales tactics to refer them to financial advisers.
ASIC acted against the Shield and First Guardian funds over concerns investor money was being misused on high-risk investments, pet projects of the directors and personal expenses, and court proceedings against both funds are ongoing.
