{"id":818050,"date":"2026-07-22T06:44:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T06:44:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/818050\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T06:44:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T06:44:11","slug":"sequoia-boss-garry-crole-steps-down-amid-fallout-from-1-2-billion-superannuation-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/818050\/","title":{"rendered":"Sequoia boss Garry Crole steps down amid fallout from $1.2 billion superannuation crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"

The boss of Australian investment firm Sequoia Financial Group has resigned as the company battles the ongoing fallout from the double Shield Master and First Guardian collapse.<\/a><\/p>\n

Chief executive and director Garry Crole confirmed his decision to step down on Wednesday, describing it as in the \u201cbest interests of the company and its stakeholders\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s superannuation industry was rocked by the First Guardian collapse.\u00a0Getty Images\/iStock<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been a privilege to lead Sequoia. I am proud of what the group and its people have built and I thank our advisors, clients and employees for their support over many years,\u201d Crole said in a statement to the ASX.<\/p>\n

Chief people officer Floriane Allard has been appointed director and will be paid an annual salary of $211,300, plus super and a discretionary bonus of up to 25 per cent.<\/p>\n

Head of corporate finance Alex Fabbri has been named as interim chief executive\u00a0as the firm seeks a permanent replacement for Crole.<\/p>\n

Sequoia has faced intense scrutiny over its close association with its licensee, advice firm Interprac, which is currently being sued by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC)<\/a> over alleged failures associated with the Shield and First Guardian collapse.<\/p>\n

\"Garry<\/p>\n

Garry Crole has stepped down as chief executive of Sequoia.\u00a0Supplied<\/p>\n

Around 12,000 Australians are missing a combined total of about $1.2 billion<\/a> after the collapse of First Guardian and Shield Master Trust.<\/p>\n

ASIC alleges that Interprac failed to \u201cenforce or maintain a hold on new investments into Shield and First Guardian after Interprac\u2019s managing director and responsible manager, Garry Crole, acknowledged serious issues with both funds\u201d.<\/p>\n

The regulator said authorised Interprac representatives Venture Egg and Rhys Reilly Pty Ltd advised around 6843 clients to invest around $677 million of their superannuation into Shield and First Guardian.<\/p>\n

ASIC chair Sarah Court said Interprac\u2019s alleged failures \u201ccontributed to hundreds of millions of dollars of superannuation being invested in products that were unsuitable, high risk and costly\u201d.<\/p>\n

Sequoia initially planned to sell Interprac for $50,000 to Conquest Investment Partners but halted the sale after ASIC began its investigation.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Interprac is currently being sued by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC)\u00a0Darrian Traynor<\/p>\n

Interprac has been the focus of close to 1500 complaints to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA).<\/p>\n

Sequoia has lost dozens of advisors since late 2025 as a result of its association with Shield Master and First Guardian.<\/a><\/p>\n

The firm\u2019s chairman Michael Ryan also stepped down last month.<\/p>\n

Along with a dwindling headcount, Sequoia\u2019s share price took a nearly 50 per cent dive in the wake of ASIC\u2019s lawsuit against Interprac.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The boss of Australian investment firm Sequoia Financial Group has resigned as the company battles the ongoing fallout…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":818051,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[45,49,48,133,131,132],"class_list":["post-818050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-finance","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=818050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818050\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/818051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=818050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=818050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=818050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}