A group of more than 30 former Solutions Wealth Strategies (SWS) advisers and associated entities is planning to launch new actions against the group and, if possible, its former managing director Maurice Terreiro in a bid to recover more than $4 million in alleged unpaid money and commissions.
In a meeting in earlier this week, nine of the 30 parties met to discuss potential avenues for recovering their unpaid money.
The parties alleged SWS unlawfully withheld payment of invoices, wages, commissions and around 2000 clients as a consequence of the advisers exiting the dealer group.
It was alleged SWS refused to report to ASIC the departure of a number of the firm’s authorised representatives (AR) despite receiving their resignations. As a result, a number of ARs have been unable to obtain work with a new licensee.
In another case, one adviser claimed he made contact with SWS’s financial planning dealer group, Financial Wealth, to advise the firm of his intention to transfer his clients to another adviser.
The same adviser claimed SWS then cancelled the adviser’s AR notification without his knowledge and contacted the adviser’s clients to inform them a new Financial Wealth planner would be appointed to them.
The adviser, who claimed to be owed around $15,000 in commissions, said he was only aware his AR notification had been cancelled after being contacted by clients who had notified him of the letter and had asked to remain with him as their adviser.
Another adviser, who has since secured his own Australian Financial Services Licence, claimed he was being threatened with having his business wound up by SWS if he did not pay an invoice of $198,505, including a payment of $92,000 for an undefended Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) claim.
The adviser, who is owed around $35,000 in commissions, claimed that as SWS did not defend the claim, FOS awarded the sum to the client with SWS to foot the bill.
The adviser said SWS had given him just 21 days to pay the amount or his new business would be wound up.
Another adviser claimed he had received a letter of demand from SWS upon receiving an invoice for more than $60,000 in relation to Financial Wealth’s software, Keys.
At least three of the advisers at the meeting also claimed that after departing the dealer group, clients had continued to receive false letters from Financial Wealth that contained their signatures.
Another issue for the group was that despite Terreiro declaring himself bankrupt earlier this year, it was understood he still represented himself as the manager of SWS, one adviser claimed.
Another adviser at the meeting claimed directorship of SWS had been signed over to the firm’s marketing manager, with the group’s current licensee apparently having no prior financial planning experience.
The group intends to claim that SWS’s current licensee and the firm’s only remaining adviser is not fit to service the dealer group’s client base.
It is not yet known whether the group intends to launch a collective legal case against SWS, although a number of advisers are already embroiled in legal battles against their former employer.
Neither the former managing director nor current managing director of SWS were available for comment.
