Andrews given nine-year ban, Richard facing time in the can

Callous bulls in a fragile china shop/Plundering nothing less than someone else's cash

THE bard of Trio Capital has written his last stanza in the saga of the theft of $180 million from Australian investors.

Yesterday David Andrews, 59, a former chairman of Trio, was banned from financial services and being a director for nine years, the longest suspension yet handed to three Trio directors who failed to protect investors.

Today the investment manager of Trio, Shawn Richard, is due to be sentenced to up to 10 years in jail.

More than $180 million has been lost in two offshore hedge funds run by Trio, Astarra Strategic and ARP Growth.

The Herald revealed last year Mr Andrews was the author of what appeared to be a lightly fictionalised account of the Trio imbroglio under his pen name, David Morisset.

The excerpt featured a shady Hong Kong businessman, high-octane hedge funds and a murder in a red light district - all elements of Australia's largest superannuation theft from the sleepy Albury fund manager chaired by Mr Andrews.

Mr Andrews's writings after the Trio collapse included the confessional poems Loser (quoted above) and Fanfare for Failure.

While silent on Mr Andrews's highly commended talent as a poet, the chair of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, Greg Medcraft, gave him a scathing review.

"We believe Mr Andrews failed in his duties as officer of the responsible entity of the Astarra Strategic Fund and therefore it's inappropriate for him to be involved in the financial services industry or act as director," Mr Medcraft said.

Mr Andrews was an economist who worked for seven years with the Australian Anglican Church's funds management arm, Glebe Asset Management, before joining Trio in 2005.

At Trio he chaired the board and also held roles as chairman of the investment committee and chairman of the risk and compliance committee.

An enforceable undertaking shows how during Mr Andrews's time at Trio millions of dollars were directed into the Astarra Strategic hedge fund without conducting proper valuations.