‘Time will tell what I could have done better’: Ferras Merhi

Ferras Merhi, who ran Venture Egg and Financial Services Group Australia, two of the financial advice businesses at the centre of the Shield and First Guardian master fund collapses, has said in a new podcast that the courts will decide what he could have done better.

“The benefit of hindsight is always a great thing. Probably would have changed my profession, anything but financial services,” Merhi said, in the podcast produced by CHOICE and Super Consumers Australia.

“But seriously, in in relation to what’s happened, they are before the courts. I’m limited in terms of what I can say, but I do trust the legal process in Australia. I think we have a fantastic system, and time will tell what I could have done better, or what other parts of the value chain could have done better to ensure this never happens again.”

Venture Egg was authorised by Sequoia-owned InterPrac Financial Planning.

ASIC has taken Merhi to court alleging he engaged in unconscionable conduct, failed to act in the best interests of clients, gave conflicted advice, and provided defective statements of advice, while receiving millions of dollars including for marketing Shield and First Guardian to clients. An update from ASIC says that the case management hearing listed on 20 November 2026 was vacated. A further case management hearing is listed for 9:30am on 4 June 2027.

Merhi was the only person involved in the collapse that agreed to speak on the podcast, against advice from his lawyer. He agreed to speak on the condition he wouldn’t discuss the court case, and that Melinda Kee conducted the interview.

Kee tells Professional Planner that she reached out directly to David Anderson and Simon Selmaj, directors of Falcon Capital, the responsible entity for Guardian; Paul Chiodo, a former director of Keystone Asset Management, which managed the Shield master fund; and Merhi. Only Merhi agreed to speak to her. She says she has spoken to all of them before, except for Selimaj, and that her first exchange with Merhi was after he reached out to her.

“He contacted me probably towards the end of August last year and said, that he admired everything that I was doing on the Facebook page and helping people, and felt that it was something that he should be doing but obviously couldn’t. And what could he do to help me,” she says.

She says that she was sceptical and nervous at first and had a phone call with Merhi, another investor and another adviser.

“And then after that phone call I said to him, if you want to help me, I need help finding people’s SOAs to help them get their AFCA complaints in. And over more than 12 months, close to 18 months, Ferris has helped me get hundreds of SOAs to people in order to help them get their AFCA complaints in.”

Merhi was an accountant whose clients had financial advice needs and that was why he decided to move into advice. He believes he had between 20 and 25 advisers working for him at Venture Egg and Financial Services Group Australia.

Merhi is one of the many lawsuits ASIC has been pursuing related to the collapsed funds.

Kee says that Anderson has also been helpful in answering questions she had.

Kee’s advisor was employed by Reilly Financial, whose authorised representative Rhys James Rolls Reilly was in April this year banned by ASIC from providing financial services for 10 years.

Offshore investments

Kee says that one question she still hasn’t had answered is about the offshore investment. She says there are properties in Indonesia, which she visited earlier in the year but she can’t see the value in them.

“I can’t fathom the amount of money that went out to Indonesia and how that’s gone.”

“I do have a lot more questions around that, but they wouldn’t have been questions Ferris could answer for me.

“There are more questions that David and Conrad would be able to answer better, but I think we need to wait until the court case to probably fully understand it.”

ASIC has issued bans of varying lengths to around 20 former financial advisers so far.