Lee Hipkins: Former Body Corporate Headquarters GM charged with $450K fraud
The former GM of a longstanding Gold Coast business that has provided body corporate services to community title schemes for more than two decades has been charged with defrauding his employer of more than $450,000.
The former general manager of a longstanding Gold Coast business that has provided body corporate services to community title schemes across the region for more than two decades has been charged with defrauding his employer of more than $450,000.
West End man Lee William Hipkins, 55, appeared in Southport Magistrates Court on November 25 for the first mention of his single charge of dishonestly gaining a benefit of at least $100,000 as an employee.
No details of the alleged offending were read on to the public record at this stage of proceedings, and Mr Hipkins has not entered a plea.
Duty lawyer Mollie Roper, of local firm Allen and Searing Criminal Lawyers, told the court her client’s charge must proceed on indictment, meaning it must be heard in the District Court of Queensland.
Ms Roper said her client would be making an application to have his case funded by Legal Aid Queensland.
His charge was adjourned to January 13, 2026, to allow the application to be assessed.
Mr Hipkins was granted bail on his own undertaking.
According to court documents, Mr Hipkins is alleged by police to have defrauded his employer, Bundall-based The Body Corporate Headquarters, of $450,294.77 between mid-2018 and his arrest on October 21 by officers from the Gold Coast Criminal Investigation Branch.
Roland Franz, Mr Hipkins’ successor as general manager of The Body Corporate Headquarters, told this masthead the defendant had been terminated from his role.
Mr Franz further added that company director Graeme Perkins, who founded the business in 1999, had voluntarily paid back “every single scheme” that had been allegedly defrauded by Mr Hipkins.
Mr Perkins’ reimbursement of the schemes involved the director having to sell some of his own assets, Mr Franz said.
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Originally published as Lee Hipkins: Former Body Corporate Headquarters GM charged with $450K fraud
