Trio Fraud Manual Victims of Financial Fraud (VOFF Inc) January 2018 VOFF’s response to ASIC’s failures concerning the disappearance of superannuation and investment savings from the Australian financial system ASIC say there are no unresolved issues around the Trio Capital Limited fraud. VOFF strongly disagree. ASIC’s website states that its role is, ‘…. an independent Commonwealth Government body. We are set up under and administer the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001 (ASIC Act), and we carry out most of our work under the Corporations Act 2001 (Corporations Act). VOFF allege that in regards to the largest superannuation fraud in Australian history, ASIC was directed by the office of Minister of Superannuation, Bill Shorten to prosecute the financial advisor that had recommended Trio products to the Australian Workers Union ‘slush fund’. Little attention was paid to the international architects of the Trio fraud while much attention was placed on Enforceable Undertakings. John Telford Secretary VOFF Inc Email: [email protected] Thank you VOFF Inc members, • Jenny Butler and • Andrew Grey For reviewing, editing and guidance in writing this document. Also thank you to my neighbour for offering a layperson perspective. Content Abbreviations -------------------------------------------------------------------------------page 3 Reference – people -------------------------------------------------------------------------page 4 Trio Fraud – a brief summary ------------------------------------------------------------page 5 1.1 Introduction -----------------------------------------------------------------------------page 6 1.2 FAILURE ASIC ignored Trio crime -------------------------------------------------- page 9 1.3 FAILURE No evidence of a forensic investigation---------------------------------page 15 1.4 FAILURE Systemic failure -------------------------------------------------------------page 21 1.5 FAILURE Shift blame -------------------------------------------------------------------page 35 2.1 VOFF History ---------------------------------------------------------------------------page 45 2.2 Superannuation ------------------------------------------------------------------------page 53 2.3 Harm caused by fraud -----------------------------------------------------------------page 58 3.1 Official documents about Trio -------------------------------------------------------page 67 3.2 FAILURE Paul RB & Frank RB --------------------------------------------------------page 70 3.3 FAILURE No background checks -----------------------------------------------------page 86 3.4 FAILURE Millennium -------------------------------------------------------------------page 89 3.5 FAILURE Matthew Littauer’s sudden death ---------------------------------------page 94 3.6 FAILURE Littauer’s background -----------------------------------------------------page 99 3.7 Marbella, Spain --------------------------------------------------------------------------page 106 Expanded reference of names -------------------------------------------------------------page 111 2 Abbreviations and key definitions ACC Australian Crime Commission AFP Australian Federal Police AFSL Australian Financial Services Licence APRA Australian Prudential Regulation Authority ASF Astarra Strategic Fund ASIC Australian Securities and Investments Commission ATO Australian Taxation Office AUSTRAC Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre CNMV Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores (Spain) FBI Federal Bureau of Investigation FINOP Financial and Operations Principals FINRA Financial Industry Regulatory Authority FMA Financial Market Authority FMA NZ Financial Markets Authority (New Zealand) FOI Freedom of Information FOIA Freedom of Information Act (United States) FOI Act Freedom of Information Act 1984 GCSL Global Consultants and Services Limited IOSCO International Organisation of Securities Commissions PJC report The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services Inquiry into the collapse of Trio Capital May 2012 NASD National Association of Securities Dealers OAIC Office Australian Information Commissioner PI Professional Indemnity PDS Product Disclosure Statement RE Responsible Entity SEC Securities and Exchange Commission (US) SFC Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission SIS Act Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 SMSF Self-managed superannuation fund Trio Trio Capital Limited VOFF Victims of Financial Fraud WGAM Wright Global Asset Management WGI Wright Global Investments Pty Ltd 3 Reference to some of the people mentioned in this document. Expanded reference at end of this document see pages 111 to 118. Names are in Alphabetical order. Bell, Frank Richard managed Trio’s underlying Exploration Fund. Cormann, Mathias MP sat on some Trio hearing and became familiar with some of Trio’s issues. Flader, Jack W. Jr. American citizen and Attorney, lives in Asia. Fletcher, Paul MP on PJC Committee and battled for ARP Growth victims. Frazer, Timothy Steven Accountant responsible for Trio’s audits. Garling, Peter Justice of the Supreme Court of NSW who saw the case against Shawn Richard. Hart, Steven Irvine accountant embroiled in tax fraud against the Commonwealth. Littauer, Matthew Nguyen Founder of the Trio scheme. Medcraft, Greg former Chairman of ASIC. Meerveld, Carl associate of Flader, based in Hong Kong. Managed the Exploration Fund. Millhouse, David director of Trio. Part of the Trio acquisition. O’Neill, Deborah MP Chair of the PJC Inquiry. Phillpott, Rex former assistant commissioner at the Australian Taxation Office. A director of Trio. Provini, Charles chief executive of Paradigm Global and US asset consultant for Trio. Revell-Reade, Jeffrey Australian-born broker with association with Trio characters. Richard, Shawn Darrell Canadian and principal director of Trio who deceived everyone. Shorten, Bill Minister for Financial Services & Superannuation. Sutherland, James Campbell Scottish accountant. Contributed to the purchase of Trio. Tarrant, Ross financial advisor who was made into a scapegoat. Unicomb, Glen forensic investigation for ASIC. Villavert, Florissa legal compliance officer for Trio. 4 Trio Fraud – a brief summary. Ordinary Australians doing what the government suggested, saving for their retirement, invested into the conservative Trio Capital Limited (Trio) products –regulated and licenced by ASIC and APRA. But the financial regulators, the auditor, the Custodians, the Research Houses and the Star-rating firms failed to identify that Trio had set up a fraudulent scheme in the Australian financial system. Total failure of the system is testimony to a systemic failure. From 2010 to 2012 the Minister of Superannuation and Financial Services, Mr Shorten and ASIC deflected attention away from the crime by politicizing the Trio matter. In 2017 two important pieces of evidence saw the light of day. 1) In February 2017 VOFF learnt that an overseas Trio operator in 2010 had offered to help ASIC in their investigations, but ASIC refused his help. In 2011 ASIC withheld that information from the trial of the Trio perpetrator, Shawn Richard. This raises the question as to whether ASIC’s involvement with Trio was an interference with the criminal investigation and an obstruction of justice? 2) October 27th 2017 VOFF learnt that Mr Shorten’s office had issued a directive to ASIC to bring down Mr Tarrant. Mr Tarrant was the financial advisor who had recommended Trio to the AWU Officers Election Fund. The AWU fund became exposed to the Trio fraud. Mr Shorten as Minister of Superannuation did not disclose his history with the AWU, or that the AWU fund was exposed to the Trio fraud, although he was in charge of the Trio investigations. Mr Shorten’s politicizing the Trio matter is perceived as a form of tampering with a crime. He pointed to “poor financial advice”; suggested SMSFs were “swimming outside the flags”; said that APRA-regulated funds lost money for ‘no fault of their own’ but the SMSFs and direct investors placed their savings into ‘troubled funds’ and are therefore responsible for their own losses. ASIC and Mr Shorten ignored the Trio crime or bothered to carry out a proper investigation. Did ASIC and Mr Shorten bring down 1 financial planner out of 155 as retribution? 5 1.1 Introduction The PJC Report points out that, ‘nearly 6,090 Australians invested in Trio and lost their money. 5,400 of those Australians had their money invested in Trio through APRA-regulated superannuation funds. Of the remaining 690 Trio Capital investors, 415 were direct investors, and around 285 investors were in self managed superannuation funds (SMSFs)’.1 The PJC added, ‘the APRA-regulated funds that invested in these schemes received full compensation under the provisions of the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 (SIS Act).’… ‘The SIS Act excludes SMSFs from financial assistance where certain superannuation entities have suffered loss as a result of fraudulent conduct or theft’.2 Victims of Financial Fraud’s (VOFF Inc) are pursuing justice over the Trio Capital Limited (Trio) scheme, a trust fund, discovered in September 2009 to have operated fraudulently over its operational life (2004 to 2009). Trio was not just any fraud. It changed the Australian financial system landscape. The Trio fraud was often cited with collapsed companies such as Westpoint and Storm Financial. There is no evidence that a thorough forensic investigation was ever carried out into the Trio fraud. It remains unknown why ASIC never