Bankrupt accountant Sam Kilkenny now accused of ‘misappropriating’ almost $6 million
Sam Kilkenny was a high-flyer. Then he lost millions on Sportsbet and Ladbrokes. Now he’s bankrupt and has been accused of “misappropriating” almost $6 million in a new legal battle.
Exclusive: A bankrupt accountant has been accused of “misappropriating” almost $6 million from his own racing company and a bloodstock agent linked to Webjet managing director John Guscic.
Gambling addicted financier Sam Kilkenny was accused in court documents of transferring money from First Light Racing and Aristia Park Bloodstock accounts into his personal bank accounts.
Now, those companies are chasing Mr Kilkenny and his former employer, accounting firm Willis Partners, for the cash.
An amended statement of claim released by Victoria’s Supreme Court alleged that Mr Kilkenny transferred $4,047,253 from First Light Racing, which has had horses with trainers Gai Waterhouse and Ciaron Maher, to his own account between July 2021 and July 2024.
It was alleged he created “false invoices and false director loans” to make the transactions.
Mr Kilkenny was a director of First Light Racing, a company that sold syndicates of racehorses and has continued to trade under director Tim Wilson.
He was also accused of “unlawfully” appropriating $1,810,038 from “Aristia Park Bloodstock’s bank account to his personal account” between September 2023 and July 2024.
Aristia Park Bloodstock director John Guscic, a former chief executive at Webjet, emailed Mr Kilkenny on May 30, 2022, to ask him to do the racing company’s books through his accounting firm Willis Partners.
The two companies now alleged that Willis Partners had engaged in “negligence” and “misleading and deceptive conduct” by failing to spot Mr Kilkenny’s alleged transactions.
Mr Kilkenny declined to comment when approached and has not filed a defence to the claim after he went bankrupt in May following the sale of his Albert Park home.
However, he said last year that he had “let down people very close to me, family, friends, colleagues” and that he had used his director’s loan at First Light Racing to “fund gambling”.
Mr Kilkenny said he had lost between $7 and 8 million, with his betting accounts showing he lost $1.2 million over six months with Ladbrokes, while he also poured millions into accounts with Sportsbet.
Willis Partners has rejected the claims and the court proceedings hit a deadlock in June ahead of the companies getting “leave to proceed”.
The accounting firm “did not admit” the claims that Mr Kilkenny had misappropriated $6 million from First Light Racing and Aristia Park Bloodstock.
Willis Partners said it only provided tax returns, specific accounting and book keeping services and denied “there was ever a general retainer.. To provide general accounting and taxation services.”
The company also denied it had “unfettered access to First Light Racing’s bank accounts”.
Willis Partners also said that Mr Kilkenny’s work did not provide him access to Aristia Park Bloodstocks bank accounts and that he only had access because he was a director of that company.
It accused the companies of “failing to have in place reasonable controls to prevent and detect fraud.”
In a statement First Light Racing said it would “aggressively” pursue both Kilkenny and accounting firm Willis Partners. “No client funds were impacted and the businesses have re-capitalised are trading profitably,” it said.
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Originally published as Bankrupt accountant Sam Kilkenny now accused of ‘misappropriating’ almost $6 million
