University of Adelaide’s entrepreneur in residence, Kristian Livolsi, admits bizarre Wallabies lie
UNIVERSITY of Adelaide entrepreneur in residence Kristian Livolsi has admitted lying to a Convention Centre conference about captaining the Australian Junior Wallabies rugby team.
- Adelaide University employed Kristian Livolsi in 2017
- He markets himself as “an authentic leader” and “an inspiration”
- But this month we revealed he was embroiled in a $30,000 dispute
- And his businesses left glowing online reviews for each other
UNIVERSITY of Adelaide entrepreneur in residence Kristian Livolsi has admitted lying about captaining the Australian Junior Wallabies rugby team, saying the “off the cuff” claim was “a silly comment on my part’’.
Mr Livolsi made the claim in a presentation at the Adelaide Convention Centre in March last year, promoting network marketing company Viridian.
The Advertiser sought clarification on a number of points raised in the video, including that Mr Livolsi sold a company to Google, “losing $22 million in the process’’, and that he ran 14 companies employing 160 people.
Early in the presentation, which was removed from video site Vimeo after The Advertiser’s queries, Mr Livolsi makes the claim about his rugby career.
“Do I look like I played rugby for Australia? Hell no,’’ he says.
“I did, I captained the Junior Wallabies.’’
The Junior Wallabies did not exist in a formal sense in the 1990s when Mr Livolsi would have been at the right age to be involved, with the team first officially using the title in 2008.
Australian Rugby said it had no record of Mr Livolsi playing at representative level — and he subsequently admitted to The Advertiser he had made the claim up.
“I have mentioned my rugby career in the past, however I did not play for the Junior Wallabies or captain them,” Mr Livolsi said in a statement. “I’m sorry that I made that comment off the cuff once over 18 months ago … it was a silly comment on my part. I did however love my time playing rugby and was proud of the short career I had.”
Regarding his claim to have sold a company to Google, Mr Livolsi said he was unable to comment on specifics due to confidentiality agreements.
“I have been open about my past failures, and it is common knowledge that I had a significant financial loss some years ago,’’ he said in a statement.
“It was a total business group failure that occurred for a perfect storm of reasons, all of which I have learned from and now strive daily to contribute positively to our community, and be the best person I can be for myself and for my family.
“I have openly commented about being selling (sic) to Google, however confidentiality clauses prevent me from any specific disclosure on the subject.’’
The Advertiser cannot find any record of such a transaction. A list of more than 200 company acquisitions — with all of the companies named — by Google and parent company Alphabet, found on Wikipedia, contains just two companies from Australia from 2001 until 2018.
The company hosting the presentation, Viridian, does not seem overly active in Australia, with links on its website and customer service numbers referring through to separate company Click Energy.
Mr Livolsi said he had not been involved with Viridian since May, 2017.
He said the details about his employees and company involvements were correct.
“At the time of the video being filmed, we had 160 employees, however, the numbers can change from time to time across the group. Current (sic) we have 112,’’ he said.
The Advertiser reported recently that Mr Livolsi’s company The Taxpayer Pty Ltd is being pursued for more than $30,000 in allegedly unpaid commercial rent over his now-closed Victoria Square eatery The Taxpayer.
It is alleged Mr Livolsi’s company owes $30,464.52 to Sinnon Pty Ltd, which is the lessor of 193 Victoria Square.
Sinnon has “distrained” various assets owned by The Taxpayer.
The Advertiser also reported that two of Mr Livolsi’s businesses have left positive reviews for another of his operations, while an associate of his left a glowing review for The Taxpayer.
Mr Livolsi is entrepreneur in residence at Adelaide University’s ThincLab and also an adjunct professor in entrepreneurship at Adelaide University.
At the time of his appointment in late 2017, the university said Mr Livolsi was “by his own admission … an expert in failure and renewal”.
“In 2008, he led companies with a turnover in excess of $30 million,’’ the press release says.
“By early 2010, his fortunes had changed — he was penniless, homeless and couch surfing,
relying on the generosity of others, and seeking treatment for depression. However, by 2013, he had relaunched his entrepreneurial career and now oversees a number of successful entrepreneurial ventures and businesses.’’
The university and Google Australia have been contacted for comment.
cameron.england@news.com.au