Operator of Brisbane gym X-Centre cops flak over previous owners’ unpaid debts

A BRISBANE gym operator has copped a whirlwind of grief after the previous operators of his business went bust, leaving dozens of outraged creditors across Queensland.

Debts of the previous owners have proved a problem for the new owner of a Valley gym.

WHIRLWIND OF GRIEF

A BRISBANE gym operator has copped a whirlwind of grief after the previous operators of his business went bust, leaving dozens of outraged creditors across Queensland.

Ross Macleod, who runs the X-Centre gym in Fortitude Valley, is still getting chased by people owed money from FC11 Pty Ltd, which crashed in February.

The Melbourne-based outfit went down owing just over $5 million, according to a liquidator’s report released this week.

Macleod, a 39-year-old Scotsman, told City Beat yesterday that he has even had to fend off at least four lawsuits from irate FC11 creditors who mistakenly believe he was tied to the collapsed firm.

Illustration of Ross Macleod by Brett Lethbridge

Changing the name of the gym is an option to put some distance between Macleod and FC11 but he estimates that such a move would cost him $30,000 or more.

“It might be a necessary evil because of all this negative blowback,’’ he said.

“In hindsight, I should have rebranded.’’

After FC11 was evicted in December over unpaid rent, Macleod brokered a deal with the landlords to take over the Brunswick St gym starting in early February.

Macleod, who previously ran gyms at Newstead, bought some of the leased equipment and he’s now working with liquidators to purchase the remaining gear.

He said FC11 removed some equipment just days before getting booted out.

ALLEGED BREACHES

ELITE athletes, including aspiring Olympians and member of the Firebirds and Brisbane Roar, still train at the X-Centre.

During FC11’s time running the gym, it’s understood that Firebirds player Gretel Tippett and UFC fighter Mark Hunt worked there.

The company charged huge sums for its “sports education’’ classes and claimed to have an alliance with the University of Queensland.

Indeed there was even talk about establishing a campus in Brisbane. But nothing came of the plans and the findings of insolvency firm Cor Cordis suggest why it all might have come to
nought.

The liquidator’s report claims FC11 “may have been insolvent from around October 2016”,’ a possibility which they said could result in a $1 million legal claim.

“We consider that offences may have been committed with respect to breaches of director’s duties and insolvent trading,’’ the report claims.

The report also found “potential voidable transactions,’’ which may result in a small return to creditors.

The liquidator determined that FC11’s sole directors and owners, Michael Katsaris and Miltiadis Sakkos, “transferred the business of the company to a related entity’’ known as AGOGE Education Australia Pty Ltd.

That move has prompted a continuing investigation, the liquidator says.

Like FC11, Katsaris and Sakkos are the sole directors and owners of AGOGE, which is based at the University of Melbourne and listed with the Federal Government as a “registered training organisation’’.

In a peculiar twist, AGOGE’s website still refers to FC11 as a going concern with which it has partnered to create “Australia’s leading sports education provider’’.

Katsaris, who also operates a real estate business, declined to comment yesterday.

Sakkos could not be contacted.