Michael Twomey has now overseen two failed businesses in Brisbane in two years

A Brisbane entrepreneur has suffered his second corporate failure in two years and is now believed to be living with his mum.

Michael Twomey wound up two entities in his Easier Australia group in March.

The fallout continues from Michael Twomey’s second corporate disaster in Brisbane.

He tapped a liquidator in late March to wind up two entities in his Easier Australia group, which had made an ill-fated stab at shaking up the property rental market with an online platform to streamline the process for both tenants and landlords.

It’s now just emerged that the group collapsed with debts of nearly $1m, with more than half of that amount owed to unsecured parties who are virtually certain to claw back nothing from the wreckage.

In his latest report to creditors, Hall Chadwick operative Marcus Watters alleges the main business had kept trading while insolvent well before he was appointed to wind up the companies.

Watters told us he now intends to issue Twomey with a statutory demand to recover an unspecified amount for the alleged breach. If that fails, he expects to go to court.

Michael Twomey

Legal action against Twomey is also likely to come from a bloke named Allen Smith, the single biggest unsecured creditor whose privately-held investment trust tipped $250,000 into the venture.

Smith, who is a co-founder of recruitment firm DMCG Global, declined to comment based on advice from his lawyers. But it’s understood that he was among the group’s first investors and he failed to secure shares as expected.

Twomey, who sold his Brisbane home for $825,000 last year and is now believed to be living with his mum, did not return a call seeking comment on Wednesday.

The Easier debacle follows the demise in early 2019 of his tech outfit, Data Fund Pty Ltd, which traded as SOOW and went down owing more than $2.3m.

Among the creditors who recovered nothing were the Brisbane Lions, which had sought $770,000 as part of an unpaid sponsorship deal valued at about $2m.

Twomey then launched Easier Australia in the middle of last year. He pitched it as a business with the simplicity of Airbnb and revenue generated from just 10 per cent of rents.

Prospective tenants were enticed with the promise of no lease or bond, instant approvals and inspections anytime. He appealed to property owners with policies such as no letting fees, free advertising and 3D scans to allow for virtual inspections.

But Watters found that the business failed as a result of both inadequate cash flow and a slow uptake from landlords.

Amazingly, in the case of both Easier and SOOW, some employees and suppliers alleged they were given fake remittances as evidence that payments had been made.

One Easier supplier even showed City Beat copies of what he alleged were bogus statements he had received.

Before it all came crashing down, complaints were lodged with both the REIQ and the Office of Fair Trading.

It’s understood neither body took action against the group even though it allegedly used listings improperly from other agents and even posted non-existent listings.

Twomey has not been charged with any criminal wrongdoing.

QBCC BRAIN DRAIN CONTINUES

What on earth is going on behind the scenes at Queensland’s deeply-troubled building industry watchdog?

We learned this week that another very senior figure, licensing services manager Graham Easterby, has resigned and is heading for the exits at the end of the month.

His impending departure from the Queensland Building and Construction Commission on July 26 is further evidence of a massive brain drain from the agency.

Indeed, more than 20 senior players--including a deputy commissioner, three assistant commissioners and 10 directors--have all bailed out in the past 12 months or so.

Just since May, we’ve seen the resignations of assistant commissioners Yvonne Pengilly and Kate Raymond, as well as Easterby’s boss Ian Grant, who served as licensing services branch director.

Graham Easterby

As one insider noted, there’s now a huge “knowledge and experience gap’’ at the highest levels, which is likely to hobble the regulator’s effectiveness.

Easterby, a former Australian Federal Police Agent who spent just over three years at the QBCC, declined to comment when we rang for a chat.

But in what appears to be a very deliberate extension of their middle fingers to their superiors, both Easterby and Grant have timed their resignations to take effect on the same day.

Grant is now headed off to a new job with Master Builders Queensland while it’s unclear what Easterby will do next.

Driving the mass exodus of talent in part, we understand, is deep unhappiness with Public Works Minister Mick de Brenni and QBCC chairman Dick Williams, a former ALP state president and state secretary of the Electrical Trades Union.

Dick Williams

City Beat spies allege pressure has been exerted on the board with regard to law enforcement, licensing decisions and staff management, including the hiring and firing of key workers.

“Licensing and compliance activities are targeted against companies that are being focused on by unions or board members or other associations. Anybody who objects, they are managed out of the organisation,’’ one insider said.

There’s also supposedly quite a bit of disillusionment with Commissioner Brett Bassett for not standing up for his troops.

Bassett, who was recently spotted in a very heated discussion with Williams on the QBCC’s internal stairs, came to the agency from ASIC in 2016 but is expected to depart well before his contract expires in May next year.

Meanwhile, we hear the QBCC is deeply in the red and needs to relocate by early next year but little has been done to find new headquarters.

A QBCC spin doctor confirmed Easterby’s imminent departure but added little else.

“The QBCC will now start the next steps to recruit a new manager for the licensing services branch,’’ he said.

“The QBCC does not comment on potential compliance-related activities, nor on speculation regarding potential future staff movements.”

As for the matter of relocation, he said the agency will “continue to work with the landlord in relation to a tenancy in South Brisbane’’.