Adelaide woman Agnieszka Todt launches new business despite collapsed e-retailer having $13m debts

A GLAMOROUS former Adelaide entrepreneur whose luxury fashion company collapsed with debts of almost $13 million has launched a new business despite creditors still fighting to recoup losses.

A GLAMOROUS former Adelaide entrepreneur whose luxury fashion company collapsed with debts of almost $13 million is operating a new business despite creditors still fighting to recoup losses.

Agnieszka Todt, 33, was co-founder of MyNetSale, an e-retailer which sold top brands at heavy discounts before going broke last year amid accusations it sold fake goods.

Among its 700,000 Australian and New Zealand customers was model Rebecca Judd while pop star Dannii Minogue promoted it on social media.

READ BELOW: Six months to get a refund AND how the company worked

But Ms Todt, known as Agy, has now re-emerged in a boutique clothing store in Sydney’s heart despite her former company owing 138 creditors more than $12.88 million. The revelation has angered former employees, clients and creditors who accused the socialite of walking away “debt free”.

“More must be done to rid our market of people who lack morals and sound judgment,” said one major fashion identity, who worked with the company.

Another former employee added: “It is disgusting and insulting to her victims. After seeing that she is still operating a store it makes me sick to know how many people she has ripped off.” The website, founded in 2011, sold international brands up to 80 per cent off retail prices including Chanel, Gucci, Prada, Burberry, Givenchy, Saint Laurent, Calvin Klein, Alexander McQueen, Tom Ford and Christian Louboutin.

Based in Sydney’s east, it boasted of close links with major European designers and its business model exploited different seasons for its “flash sales” of apparel sourced through buyers in Paris.

Speaking about her former business in 2013, Ms Todt told Sydney’s Daily Telegraph: “For a long time Australia has been so ripped off. When you pay import taxes and duties on current season stock it’s expensive. But it’s less on discount stock, so we can sell for less.”

But a Sunday Mail investigation has found the company faced complaints about its business practices before it entered administration in July last year.

British label Burberry launched Federal Court action two months earlier, accusing the company of “misrepresentation” and “passing off” almost 160 of its luxury clothes on the website. It sought damages and an injunction over the “flagrant” conduct.

Court documents state a year earlier MyNetSale gave undertakings to “cease from offering for sale and from otherwise dealing in and/or with counterfeit Burberry merchandise”.

MyNetSale, and its three directors — including Ms Todt — denied the claims and the case was “dismissed by consent” in December, weeks after MyNetSale was liquidated. Burberry did not respond to inquiries. Leaked company documents also reveal customer concerns and employee questions over the “authenticity” of goods and late deliveries.

CUSTOMER: Rebecca Judd

ENDORSED: Danni Minogue.

The company repeatedly denied it sold fake goods.

Some customers made legal threats and growing numbers of consumer complaints on the company’s social media accounts were deleted, sources said. Disgruntled customers also posted on consumer sites, including productreview.com. au, stating they never received goods or were sent what appeared to be “fake” items.

It is understood Mrs Judd’s management also queried the company’s business practices in July 2013 after concerns from fans but was told the “reputable” business guaranteed authenticity. The Perth-born television presenter, 32, promoted the business through social media but was not paid. She declined to comment. Other clients abandoned the business over concerns about its practices while some had to hire debt collectors to recoup fees.

At a creditors’ meeting on October 22 last year, in which a resolution to wind up the company was passed, Ms Todt’s proposal that “all books and records” be destroyed, was also carried.

Documents lodged with the corporate regulator, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, show Brands Exclusive Australia bought MyNetSale for $720,500 on October 21.

Despite her former company’s debts, Ms Todt ­established Style Store International on February 13 in Oxford St, Paddington, Sydney with similar branding.

On social media she listed herself as co-founder. When approached by the Sunday Mail in Sydney this week, she said, “I don’t own the business. I’m working for someone else.”

She also refused to apologise to creditors and would not reveal the owners of the “privately listed” business. Within minutes she had deleted her social media accounts.

Administrators Hall Chadwick did not respond to questions. ASIC declined to comment.

- With Ben Pike in Sydney

How the company worked

AGNIESZKA Todt studied Commerce and Law at Flinders University, according to an online CV, before training as an architect in Sydney.

Polish-born Miss Todt, 33, known as Agy, once described how her online business idea MyNetSale developed “over a glass of wine” and after identifying price differences during sales.

“Just because it’s 75 per cent off doesn’t mean it needs to be in a bin somewhere with a red sticker on it,’’ she once said.

Its directors have been Ms Todt and Paris-based Pierre-Axel Paoli, 35, Timothy Stuart, 46 — believed to be her boyfriend - and David Hempton, 40.

Company records show Ms Todt, a regular on Sydney’s fashion scene, and Mr Paoli are still listed as directors.

The company launched in March 2012 four months after it was registered with the Australian Securities and Investment Commission.

The company, backed by a French Parent, MyNetSale SAS, offered “Australian consumers can enjoy high-end and trendy labels at amazingly discounted prices in season” and “an experience similar to walking down a boutique shopping strip in Paris”.

Some of the world’s leading fashion labels were sold online for up to 80 per cent discount. It also offered e-cigarettes, beauty products, homeware and “adult novelty items”.

A team of stylists and buyers in France would search for fashion bargains and could take advantage of the inversion of seasons and European designers selling excess stock.

In Paddington, in Sydney’s inner east, 10 employees would market and sell products to more than 700,000 members in Australia and New Zealand in 72-hour “flash sales”.

Before going into administration last year with debts of $12.8 million it was reportedly among the top 10 most popular Australian online shopping sites. It also had an outlet store in Sydney.

Federal Court documents show that when it collapsed it had assets of $174,842, owed the tax office $873,000 while also owing employees $40,031 in superannuation and annual leave entitlements.

The French parent company has also fallen into financial difficulty.

Six months just to get a refund

FOR Sarah Stokes the opportunity to buy cheap, but reputable, designer goods was too good to refuse.

Always keen for a bargain for “100 per cent legitimate” goods, Miss Stokes, 25, of Hyde Park, discovered MyNetSale from Australian fashion bloggers on social media.

Sarah Stokes had to fight for almost six months for a refund. Picture: Tricia Watkinson

She spent $220 on a pair of luxury Alexander McQueen chiffon skull scarfs in January last year — discounted from the retail price of at least $800.

Despite money being taken from her account within hours, the goods failed to arrive and so began an almost six month nightmare as countless emails were ignored.

Finally, almost four months later, the company replied, claiming the stock was “sadly not up to our high quality standard, so much so it is not saleable”.

“As we do not feel comfortable supplying a substandard product to our valued customers, we will instead issue you with a full refund,” it said.

But Miss Stokes, a city-based PR consultant, was forced to wait until late May for her refund after being promised it within four days.

She remains angry at the “terrible shopping experience”.

“The thing that annoyed me the most was that they said they couldn’t ship the product due to the quality standards not being high enough, when the reality is, an international designer … wouldn’t produce a second rate product to begin with,” she said.