The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has obtained a temporary court order to ban a financial adviser linked to the Shield Master Fund and the First Guardian Master Fund from working in financial services.
The regulator secured an interim injunction from the Federal Court to stop Ferras Merhi or his employees from conducting any business related to financial products or financial services, including providing financial advice or marketing superannuation or managed investment scheme products.
Merhi is accused of engaging in unconscionable conduct, failing to act in the best interests of clients, giving conflicted advice, and providing defective statements of advice while receiving millions of dollars. His ban is part of ASIC’s ongoing investigations into the Shield Master Fund and First Guardian Master Fund.
When issuing the injunction, Justice Moshinsky said the court order was in the public’s interest, otherwise Merhi would continue to provide financial product advice.
ASIC also secured an order to appoint a receiver to identify all Merhi’s assets and liabilities and report back to the Court within 90 days. Merhi’s assets have been frozen since February 2025 and he has been restrained from leaving Australia since July 2025.
A provisional liquidator has also been appointed to Venture Egg Financial Services and United Financial Advice, the entities through which Merhi and other financial advisers provided financial advice to clients, and must report to the Court within 28 days on the financial position, solvency and likely returns to creditors of the two businesses, as well as any suspected misconduct by officers.
ASIC alleges that between 2020 and 2024 Merhi and advisers working for him advised clients to invest around $296m of their superannuation into First Guardian and around $230m into Shield. In return, ASIC alleges Merhi’s businesses received nearly $18m in upfront advice fees and more than $19m from entities associated with First Guardian for marketing First Guardian to clients.
Both First Guardian and Shield have now collapsed, leaving thousands of clients’ superannuation at risk.
