A Wollongong financial planning business that recommended clients invest in the collapsed fund manager Trio Capital has been placed in voluntary liquidation.
Tarrants confirmed yesterday it would wind up Wealth Management, the financial planning arm of its business.
Twelve employees have lost their jobs.
A spokesman for Tarrants said it would meet clients this week to transfer them to WealthSure Pty Ltd, a financial planning business with more than 300 advisers across Australia.
Thirteen Tarrants employees would be employed by WealthSure, he said.
WealthSure, whose head office is in Perth, did not return the Mercury's calls yesterday.
Tarrants and Dominion, another Wollongong-based financial planner, have clients' money heavily invested in the Albury-based superannuation fund manager Trio Capital, predominantly through its $123 million flagship investment scheme Astarra Strategic.
Trio Capital failed last October, leaving an amount of $180 million that cannot be traced.
A nine-month global hunt has failed to turn up the missing funds, supposedly invested in a complex web of hedge funds in foreign tax havens, including the British Virgin Islands.
Hundreds of Illawarra investors are facing financial ruin after their life savings vanished in the collapse.
Maguire and McInerney lawyer Mark McDonald, who is representing some of the investors, said he was not surprised by Tarrants' announcement but it had caused "further distress and anxiety" to former clients.
Mr McDonald has said he would continue to pursue legal action against Tarrants, which he said was operating under a valid licence when it advised its clients to invest in Astarra.
"Tarrants was required to carry professional indemnity insurance while operating under their licence," he said.
"I will be pressing on with my investigation of prosecution of claims against Tarrants."
At a public hearing in the NSW Supreme Court on July 15, Astarra Strategic investment manager Shawn Richard said Tarrants had accepted $840,000 worth of secret payments last year as an incentive to invest clients' money in the failed venture.
Tarrants managing director Ross Tarrant last week confirmed he had accepted the payments but said they were "a marketing allowance" and while the firm did not normally accept commissions, the one-off payment helped the firm survive the global financial crisis.
The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) is investigating Tarrants as part of its inquiry into Trio.
Mr Tarrant has defended the Astarra Strategic investment, claiming four-year data showed the fund had significantly less risk and volatility than other international offshore funds.
A Tarrants spokesman said the company would continue to assist clients to recover their money.
"Tarrants has introduced clients to MacPherson and Kelley Lawyers who are looking to commence a nationwide class action against parties responsible for the loss of client funds within the Astarra Strategic fund," the spokesman said. Tarrants stressed that it would continue to operate its accounting, legal and tax planning businesses.
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