Former Agape doomsday cult member Angelo Veneziano joins fight for remaining $9 million in assets, but judge has ‘little sympathy’
ANOTHER person has laid claim to a chunk of the Agape doomsday cult’s last $9 million in an 11th-hour bid — but the Supreme Court says it is done “bending over backwards” to resolve the long-running, four-way legal war.
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ANOTHER person has laid claim to a chunk of the Agape doomsday cult’s last $9 million in an 11th-hour bid — but the Supreme Court says it will no longer “bend over backwards” in the case.
The four-way war for control of the cult’s last-known assets is scheduled to resolve next Tuesday, with everyone except fugitive messiah Rocco Leo walking away with cash.
On Thursday, however, former parishioner Angelo Veneziano — who dropped out of the running years ago — said he too wanted his lost life’s savings refunded.
Justice Martin Hinton, who has presided over the case for two years, said he could extend “little sympathy” to Mr Veneziano.
“He should have exercised more vigilance … this is from his own failure to participate,” he said.
“We were here every time, the other plaintiffs were here, it was always open for him to do the same, nothing was hidden.
“He bears the responsibility for this situation, probably more than most.”
In 2010, the cult and its apocalyptic beliefs were exposed by an SA Police raid that netted firearms and ammunition — Leo fled to Fiji in defiance of an arrest warrant.
Agape’s assets were thought to have been dismantled, by lawsuits and liquidators, by 2014 but the discovery of $9 million in a hidden account prompted fresh action.
Initially Leo, a group of loyalists, a group of disgruntled former believers and the Australian Taxation Office all laid claim to the money.
On Thursday, Gillian Walker, for the ATO, said two former parishioners, Mimmo and Antonio Romeo, had chosen not to proceed with their lawsuits.
She said the claim by Raphael Azariah — formerly Agape’s public face, who denied it was a cult — had also been settled.
Ms Walker said Lorenzo Lettieri — whose Swiss-Italian charity bingo nights still fund Leo’s activities in Fiji — had dropped out, as had Leo.
Kathryn Conder — Leo’s “messenger” in Adelaide, who once warned the court risked invoking his divine wrath — her husband, Kevin, and Konstandina Coluccio will settle on Tuesday.
Ms Walker said there was a simpler way to resolve Mr Veneziano’s reappearance than postponing the settlement.
“We have proposed a scenario whereby $450,000 will remain in the account, protecting Mr Veneziano’s foreshadowed claim,” she said.
“The ATO will not take steps to enforce (Leo’s tax debt) against that amount unless Mr Veneziano is successful … if he is not, we will reagitate our claim to it.”
Counsel for Mr Veneziano objected, saying that exposed his client to further legal costs — but Justice Hinton said that was a consequence of inaction.
“We have bent over backwards in these proceedings, since I came into them, to make sure people have had every opportunity to get here and put any submissions,” he said.
“Mr Veneziano doesn’t get an awful lot of sympathy from me.”
He adjourned the case until Tuesday and reminded Mrs Conder — who was sitting in the public gallery — that Leo was still welcome to attend court at any time.
“That’s the message I’ve always sent, and it remains that way,” he said.