NewsBite

Neil Chenoweth

November

Chris Ellison, Mineral Resources managing director.

Inside Chris Ellison’s brutal executive meetings

A whistleblower claims the Mineral Resources founder ordered a female lawyer to stand in front of a meeting and say, “I am a f--ing idiot”. He told another she “just needs a good f--k”.

Chris Ellison, MinRes’ managing director, and other investors in the Bullsbrook development project.

The $45m MinRes property deal – with the Ellisons on the other side

Investors in the iron ore and lithium miner would have had no idea that MinRes’ joint venture partner in a big Perth real estate play was the company’s founder.

Yenna Ong has resigned from MinRes after being confronted by directors over her personal work for the company’s founder Chris Ellison (right).

Meet Chris Ellison’s personal accountant

Yenna Ong, the number cruncher who managed the Mineral Resources founder’s private affairs, rapidly gained great power. Then just as suddenly, she was gone.

Mineral Resources was founded by Chris Ellison, pictured leaving his Perth head office on Monday evening. He says he will leave the company in the next 18 months.

Inside the two-week unravelling of Chris Ellison’s hold on MinRes

Monday’s attempt to draw a line in the sand still leaves unanswered questions for shareholders and investigators about the goings-on at Mineral Resources.

Chris Ellison is the founder and managing director of Mineral Resources, a diversified miner worth billions of dollars.

MinRes paid a 70pc mark up to rent Chris Ellison-owned properties

Independent valuations that the owners of the four industrial facilities commissioned themselves indicated that the leases were well in excess of market rates.

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MinRes chief financial officer and company secretary Mark Wilson, and managing director Chris Ellison.

Ellison’s executives revealed as owners in blockbuster lithium IPO

Mark Wilson was among a group of executives who report to Chris Ellison, who bought into Kali Metals – the miner targeted by Mineral Resources.

October

MinRes founder Chris Ellison: From the moment a Sydney accountant made the contact with the ATO in 2019, excess depreciation claims were discussed.

The documents MinRes directors didn’t see

Magic money, a disappearing depreciation claim – Chris Ellison’s excellent offshore adventure skips a few details.

Mineral Resources chief executive Chris Ellison.

How Chris Ellison’s secrets came to light

Allegations of serial tax evasion have raised questions about how the miner Mineral Resources is being run.

Chris Ellison and Tim Roberts were both on the Mineral Resources board when they purchased a big property in New Zealand together.

MinRes sold Chris Ellison farm equipment at steep discount

The company’s managing director and another director, Tim Roberts, bought the machinery for their New Zealand property at a bargain price, documents show.

Mineral Resources CEO Chris Ellison described a 10-year tax scheme as “a poor decision and a serious lapse of judgement”.

When did the MinRes board learn of Chris Ellison’s offshore scandal?

Directors of the major mining group should answer two core questions: when did they find out about it, and why didn’t they tell shareholders?

Peter Wade and Chris Ellison.

MinRes scheme enriched execs, allegedly at investors’ expense

Peter Wade failed to disclose his interest in Chris Ellison’s tax evasion scheme, which cost shareholders more than $7 million.

MinRes board investigating Ellison’s alleged tax evasion scheme

Chairman James McClements has confirmed that the board is investigating revelations that managing director Chris Ellison operated an offshore tax evasion scheme.

Chris Ellison’s offshore secret

An investigation by AFR Weekend has uncovered how Mineral Resources chief executive Chris Ellison, one of Australia’s richest men, allegedly evaded tax for years.

September

Rupert Murdoch favours his eldest son Lachlan to run the family business, but a trust gives equal voting rights to four of his children.

Akin to Orwellian genius: Inside Murdochs’ Project Harmony

After a quarter-century of increasingly public bickering, today the only thing that can bring Rupert Murdoch’s family together is a court case.

August

Kristy-Lee Craker, managing director pf Ship Agency Services.

Chris Ellison’s daughter earns millions for MinRes shipping work

Mineral Resources requires ship owners carrying the group’s iron ore exports to use a shipping agent owned by the daughter of the chief executive, says Ownership Matters.

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Former PwC Australia general counsel Meredith Beattie: “I was the one rattling the cage in 2018.”

Penitence, bravado and rattling the PwC can

The firm’s alumni deploy the “I take full responsibility, it was all the other guy’s fault” defence.

July

n 2020, there was a global rush to secure masks to try to restrict the spread of COVID-19 – some of the results were far from satisfactory.

Importers got rich on COVID masks; the shipment’s still on the dock

When COVID-19 erupted around the world, the race was on to secure masks and gowns. Middlemen were in lucrative taxpayer deals, even one which went awry.

Rupert Murdoch, 93, at his wedding last month to 67-year-old Elena Zhukova.

Rupert Murdoch’s family plan explodes

Project Harmony has hit the world’s rockiest succession plan like a tactical nuclear device.

Adobe’s president of International, Paul Robson, was one of three senior executives appointed to Adobe Trading Systems in the days before the MAAL came into effect in January 2016.

How Adobe’s PwC tax strategy came unstuck

The manoeuvres of US tech giants to avoid the Multinational Anti Avoidance Law left a paper trail.

Former tax commissioner Chris Jordan didn’t see any point to a register to identify the people behind shell companies.

Chris Jordan’s valuable insights into shell companies

When it came to regulating the offshore world, the former tax commissioner had personal experience that he could have shared.

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/by/neil-chenoweth-1447g8