Sequoia Financial Group has admitted inaccurately representing to the market that Professional Planner had breached an agreement to embargo a report about the sale of InterPrac Financial Planning.
Responding to an inquiry from the ASX over potential breaches of listing rules by disclosing information about the sale of InterPrac to Conquest, Sequoia told the exchange that managing director Garry Crole had provided a statement by phone at 2pm on 20 March in response to a media inquiry from Professional Planner.
However, no record of any conversation with Professional Planner exists and after inquiring with Crole, he conceded he had confused this conversation with one involving a journalist from another publication.
The ASX inquired about a potential disclosure breach because of a Professional Planner article that detailed information about the sale of InterPrac to Conquest Investment Partners, and whether information was leaked before the market was aware.
Professional Planner originally published an article titled ‘Sequoia enters trading halt as InterPrac future floats in air’ at 4.58pm on Friday, 20 March 2026, after securities in the company temporarily ceased trading at 11.39am that day.
The article was subsequently updated under its current headline ‘Sequoia set to offload InterPrac for $50K’ on Sunday when specific information about the sale to Conquest was received on Saturday, 21 March. A footnote was added to the article clarifying that information confirming the sale had been added.
The update – which broke news of the Conquest sale – was based on a leaked communication from Crole to vendors and business associates of Sequoia.
Inaccuracy
Crole acknowledged the inaccuracy of claiming he’d had a conversation with Professional Planner, which he said was made by mistake, and is now aware that the discussion was with a different journalist from another publication.
“I very much regret the implication that any Professional Planner journalist breached my trust within such conversation,” Crole said in a statement to this masthead.
“Professional Planner has always maintained high standards of journalistic integrity, and I regret the mistaken identity in my response.
“I recognise the importance of accuracy, particularly in matters affecting professional reputation. Please accept my apologies.”
Aleks Vickovich, editor-in-chief at Professional Planner publisher Conexus Financial, said the company was pleased to receive a formal apology from Crole and Sequoia Financial Group for the statement to the ASX which mistakenly inferred Professional Planner had breached an embargo agreement.
“Conexus Financial publications and editorial staff adhere to journalistic ethics and we reserve all rights afforded to us as members of the free press,” Vickovich said.
“We stand by our market-leading coverage of the Shield and First Guardian saga, including holding Sequoia and other regulated entities to account for their role in the disaster.”
ASIC announced on Wednesday it had commenced Federal Court proceedings seeking the appointment of a receiver to investigate the proposed sale of InterPrac over concerns the new owners would avoid paying mounting liabilities of the firm.
Sequoia planned to sell the struggling licensee to Conquest Investment Partners due to almost all major platforms blacklisting InterPrac authorised representatives.
The regulator was concerned that the sale may cease to guarantee InterPrac’s debts via a cross-guarantee the company previously tried to unwind, which could adversely affect remediation for investors caught up in the collapse of Shield and First Guardian.
Failed oversight
ASIC has taken InterPrac to court over allegations it failed in its oversight responsibilities of advisers involved in distributing the Shield and First Guardian master funds in the aftermath of the $1 billion collapse.
The regulator alleged InterPrac authorised representative Ferras 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.
ASIC alleged InterPrac began to receive complaints from clients around September 2024 but instead of investigating the complaints it provided a template response that asserted the relevant advice had been appropriate.
The regulator will argue in court that InterPrac had the ability to monitor revenue generated by the authorised representatives and the specific products in which funds of their clients were invested.
Former ASIC Commissioner Danielle Press was recruited to help lift governance standards at InterPrac, but quit just seven months after she joined, due to concerns about the direction the company was heading.
Several other licensees have been cancelled for their involvement of distribution in the funds and InterPrac is currently the only solvent licensee implicated in the collapse of Shield and First Guardian.
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 that investor money was being misused on high-risk investments, pet projects of directors and personal expenses, and court proceedings against both funds are ongoing.
Despite alleged oversight failures by the licensee, Crole has been critical of other parts of the advice chain – namely the platform trustees – and had called on them to remediate consumers.
Macquarie and Netwealth have both remediated Shield and First Guardian clients, respectively, to their initial capital position. However, Equity Trustees and Diversa Trustees are fighting allegations of due diligence failures in court.
Crole has also criticised AFCA, which is unable to hear or determine complaints against all parties involved in product failures such as Shield and First Guardian, and InterPrac is now suing the complaints authority over concerns about its jurisdictional coverage.
Professional Planner has contacted ASX for comment.
