A convicted fraudster, Brendan Gaffney, and his administrative assistant Lisa Luca have been suspended from their jobs at a truck-leasing company over a fraudulent invoice they submitted to Club Marconi for work that was never done.
A Herald investigation has previously revealed the club’s then CEO Tony Zappia, a close friend of Mr Gaffney’s, authorised payment to Rentfleet Operations for $13,750 for “relocation of machinery” last year. Not only did the Bossley Park club have no machinery to move but the club was shut down during the pandemic, said club sources familiar with the situation.
Tony Zappia, former CEO of Club Club Marconi.Credit: Nick Moir
Mr Zappia has shares in Rentfleet, as does Marconi director Frank Oliveri, club president Vince Foti and members of his family. Both men said that Mr Zappia had introduced them to Mr Gaffney.
A Marconi club board meeting was held on Thursday via Zoom to discuss the Herald’s revelations about the invoice. The meeting disintegrated into a screaming match with calls for Mr Foti and Mr Oliveri to resign for failing to disclose an interest in the company when the payment was approved in October last year, sources told the Herald.
President of Club Marconi Vince Foti.
Mr Foti previously told the Herald he was under no obligation to reveal to other board members his interest in Rentfleet but while some board members do not recall any disclosure of his interest in Rentfleet, Mr Oliveri insists that he did disclose it at the February meeting.
Mr Zappia has claimed that the invoice was to pay for his shares in the company and that he had been given approval for the false invoice which was to be deducted from money he said the club owed him.
The fraudulent invoice was not raised with the board until February this year. Mr Zappia left the following day with all his entitlements, four months’ salary and a glowing reference from Mr Foti.
Mr Gaffney, a former bank officer, was released from jail in 2012 after serving five years for stealing clients’ funds which he used to gamble on horses. He and Mrs Luca have since owned a number of racehorses including Money Talk and Miss How Long.
Rentfleet, Mr Gaffney’s previous iteration of the truck-leasing company, collapsed early last year owing millions of dollars. Mrs Luca, who was the sole director, is now facing bankruptcy over the company’s debts.
Marconi paid the money into an account which was associated with Mr Gaffney and Mrs Luca. It has since been recalled.
The new owners of the company said they were “appalled” by the allegations about the fraudulent invoice, which was unrelated to their business. A spokesperson said the two employees have been suspended.
Brendan Gaffney spent five years in jail for fraud. Credit: Facebook
Meanwhile, Marconi club directors have been shocked to learn that two weeks ago their preferred purchaser of a $16 million block of club-owned land at Narellan, has secretly on-sold his interest.
It was with great fanfare that in 2016 the now-departed Mr Zappia and president Mr Foti unveiled plans to build a $12 million club on newly purchased vacant land at Narellan in south-western Sydney. The club spent $5 million buying the block from the Eastern Suburbs Rugby League club, with the lengthy settlement finalised in mid-2017.
However, the development plans were quietly shelved and, in December 2019, rather than putting the block on the open market, the club quietly issued an option for $1.6 million to Charlie Stillisano who agreed to buy the land for $16 million.
This was a remarkable financial turnaround for the Wetherill Park tax adviser, who only the previous year had staved off an attempt by the Australian Tax Office to bankrupt him.
In 2017 the ATO obtained a District Court judgment for $534,000 against Mr Stillisano. When he failed to pay, on numerous occasions the ATO attempted to serve Mr Stillisano with a bankruptcy notice. Court documents show Mr Stillisano eventually called to say that he didn’t know there’d been a judgment against him six months earlier, he didn’t have “a fixed address” and that he was “suffering from depression and having issues with family matters” as well as the ATO.
When the matter came to court in April 2018, Mr Stillisano paid his debts and avoided bankruptcy.
Mr Stillisano, 45, was due to pay another $1.6 million to extend his option to purchase the Narellan land on June 30. But in a move that has shocked club directors, Mr Stillisano has bailed on the deal and assigned his option to a third party.
He told the Herald he got cold feet on the deal after hearing rumours that the club had not done a commercial or transparent transaction and that he was being used as a front for others. These suggestions were completely untrue, said Mr Stillisano.
Malaysian prince Tunku Mohamed Alauddin (centre) with then Fairfield councillor Frank Oliveri (left) and Labor MP Joe Tripodi (right).Credit: Alice Boshell
He said that when he took the option in 2019, he made a “speculative investment.” The land was valued at $13.5 million, but Mr Stillisano said he gambled that it would later be worth $16 million.
When “the rumblings” about his deal reached him, Mr Stillisano decided to pull out. “I don’t need to get involved with these people,” he said of the faction-riven club which he described as being full of people unfairly “casting aspersions on other people’s characters.”
Mr Stillisano, whose construction company did work on the Marconi club’s foyer, told the Herald that he learnt of the prospective sale of the Narellan land from Vince Fedele, a close friend of disgraced former Labor minister Joe Tripodi.
In 2014 Mr Fedele, a printer who also is a contractor to Club Marconi, featured at a corruption inquiry into the activities of his friend Mr Tripodi who was found to have orchestrated the mass printing of leaflets containing false information about Mr Tripodi’s then colleague Jodi McKay, who subsequently lost her seat.
Vince Fedele leaving the Independent Commission Against Corruption.Credit: Daniel Munoz
Mr Fedele told the inquiry that Mr Tripodi asked him to “try to keep me out of it” when journalists started asking questions about his involvement in the leaflets.
A caveat on the land, registered on June 29, shows that Narellan ILS, a subsidiary of investment house Washington H. Soul Pattinson, will be the new owner. The company did not reply to questions about the sale.
Our Breaking News Alert will notify you of significant breaking news when it happens. Get it here.