Convicted fraudster Shawn Richard will be brought from jail to give evidence at a tribunal hearing involving Wollongong businessman Ross Tarrant.
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Richard, a former investment manager, has been behind bars since being sentenced last year to two-and-a-half years’ prison for his role in the 2009 collapse of Trio Capital.
Mr Tarrant is now fighting an Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) ban against him providing financial services until 2018.
Mr Tarrant advised hundreds of clients to invest a collective $23 million in Trio Capital’s flagship Astarra Strategic Fund.
He received more than $840,000 in payments from the fund manager, money some clients have alleged was never disclosed.
Mr Tarrant has denied the payments influenced his advice and described them as a marketing allowance.
The 2009 collapse of Trio Capital was Australia’s biggest superannuation fraud, with hundreds of mum-and-dad investors in the Illawarra hit with substantial losses.
Mr Tarrant’s appeal against the seven-year ban was dealt with briefly during directions proceedings at the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in Sydney yesterday.
Mr Tarrant was present but did not speak.
His legal representative, Dominique Hogan-Doran, told Senior Tribunal Member Mason Allen the appeal hearing would take about seven days to be heard once a date had been set and about nine witnesses would be called.
One was in custody, she noted.
ASIC representative Monique Adofaci later named the witness as Richard, before saying the regulator wanted the matter dealt with by the end of the financial year.
“We’re eager to get this matter on,” she said.
Canadian-born Richard, commonly known by his Facebook nickname Shawny Cash, sourced funds for the Astarra Strategic Fund before they were lost to offshore tax havens.
In August, Justice Peter Garling sentenced Richard on two counts of dishonest conduct, including secretly receiving $1.3 million paid into offshore accounts in Liechtenstein and Curacao.
Justice Garling said Richard was guilty of serious crimes that were carefully planned and concealed.
“He was the central figure in Australia without whose participation these offences could not have occurred,” Justice Garling said.
ASIC issued Mr Tarrant with the seven-year ban following an extensive investigation, which is yet to be made public.
He has not practised as a financial advisor since his company, Tarrants Financial Consultants, was placed into liquidation in 2010.
The ban would not stop Mr Tarrant from operating his Wollongong accounting firm.
A date is yet to be set for the appeal hearing.
