December 21, 2012. Four sleeps to Christmas. The excitement we were feeling over our first festive season in our new town was about to implode. Word via my husband's brother came through that ASIC had walked into our financial adviser’s office and seized everything. The soon-to-be convicted fraudster, Bradley Thomas Sherwin, had been presiding over a for many, many years with his 400 plus clients superannuation money, a total of around 60 million.
What followed was a seven year journey through two class actions to try and claw back some of the money that was stolen from us. Only two months earlier my husband and I had enjoyed our only daughter’s wedding, sold the family home and moved to our little piece of paradise for retirement - Yamba, NSW. We were one of the lucky ones as we still had our house money. But to wake up one morning with the realisation that you have lost all your savings is a place I do not ever wish to revisit.
We were paddling in a pool of desperation with others. People we did not know before became a person to share the desperate need to find information, a person to share what we should do, find who would help us. Talk turned to class actions. We were on a steep legal learning curve. Time was filled with administrators, liquidators and law firms while battling with the fact that we were fully dependent on the welfare system. Having to continually explain, "Yes, I had $500,000 but my advisor of 20 years has defrauded me,” to government agencies depletes the last few shreds of security left. Helplessness, hopelessness, and despair seeped into the psyche.
Beth and her husband lost their entire retirement nest egg. Source: Supplied
Being a class member in an action initially gave a sense of justice. We had banded together; we had a legal firm and funder who believed in us and was willing to back us. A sense that perhaps a bit of justice will be served.
Time marched on, life moved passed us, desperation, and depression for us both, seeped into our daily life. The ATO were demanding that we pay taxes on a super fund that had not really existed for over a decade but hey if we do not pay, we get hit with fines. Pay them with what? There is no documentation that you can get to prove any of this as ASIC cannot find the missing paperwork, the administrators cannot provide anything till it is all wound up. This of course takes years.
The first class action against Sandhurst Trustees took about five years. This yielded us $110,000. This gave us some security back. The second, us Vs Bank of Qld and DDHGraham, well words fail me.
Litigation started against Bank Of Queensland/DDHGraham. During mediation there was a ‘break down’ between our law firm and funder. Another firm had to be sourced. Settlement was reached at mediation for 12 million dollars.
Justice Murphy described the settlement “as a small pool of money and probably the worst settlement in terms of returns to class members that I have seen in my time on the bench."
Of the 12 million, 98 per cent was claimed by funders, lawyers etc leaving $250,000 to be divided between the class members. But the real kicker was that 75 per cent of those class members become ineligible. This is Australian justice delivered.
Justice Murphy appointed a referee to review costs. This meant more money came out of our settlement funds. After this report was delivered to Justice Murphy the break down improved. Now eight million dollars was paid to the funder, lawyer firms and referees including uplift fees and scheme distribution fees etc etc. The law was upheld, we apparently won but there was no feeling of justice.
The merry go round of deep dark desperation continued. We had to find an accountant to wind things up for the ATO. We visited four. It was hard for me to trust anyone. The whole experience has left me with very deep trust issues. I now have a social impairment; I find it very difficult to actually trust anyone I come in contact with. This of course has had dramatic effects on my social life moving to a new area. I have always been an open, honest and willing to assist type of person but now I can appear quite aloof. I withdraw from social occasions not just because of the financial output but the trust issue. I only trust my husband and my daughter.
When a natural disaster occurs, there are agencies that kick in immediately. There is also the brilliant community support that kicks in. The Aussie way, we help. But when a financial disaster happens there is no support. There are no agencies to support, no community support. No one to point you in the direction of hotlines, councillors, food banks etc. People including the media are quick to judge. It would be nice to see more support offered to people who find themselves in a similar situation to us. As you struggle to cope with the devastating blow, a hand to help pull you up from the darkness and guide you through the process would go a long way.
