Nant Distillery founder Keith Batt delays plea hearing as the buyback whisky scandal hits court

The man allegedly behind a scandalous whisky buyback scheme has delayed entering a plea, as his lawyer begged for more time to review documents related to over 700 charges.

The man allegedly behind the infamous Nant whisky investment scandal, Keith Batt, has avoided entering a plea.

The man allegedly behind the infamous Nant whisky investment scandal has avoided entering a plea, as his lawyer begged for more time to review hundreds of pages of documents related to over 700 charges.

The Tasmanian distillery’s founder, former bankrupt Queensland businessman Keith Batt, appeared by phone in Hobart Magistrates’ Court on Thursday morning for the second time this year.

A criminal investigation was announced almost eight years ago into the scheme, which saw investors purchase barrels of whisky from the Nant Distillery located in Bothwell, in Tasmania’s central highlands.

The distillery promised to buy the barrels back from investors when they matured, but it is alleged that many barrels were not filled with whisky, and that liquor was taken from barrels.

News Corp has been told Mr Batt was charged with a whopping 736 alleged offences, including 622 counts of fraud, 66 counts of stealing and 48 counts of dishonestly acquiring a financial advantage.

The distillery promised to buy the barrels back from investors when they matured.

The 63-year-old was expected to enter a plea on Thursday but his lawyer asked for an adjournment due to the number and complexity of the charges.

“Unfortunately due to the nature of the matter we were only served with 1500 pages of documents recently last Friday. We haven’t had an opportunity to go through those,” Mr Batt’s lawyer told the court.

“Given the number of documents your honour, I think we need six weeks to go through that and decide.

“As you can appreciate the investigation took years and there’s fraud, there’s a lot of angles that need to be looked at, so we don’t want to rush that.”

Magistrate Andrew McKee bailed Mr Batt to reappear in court in August where he is again expected to enter a plea.

There was no objection to the adjournment from the prosecution.

The 63-year-old was expected to enter a plea on Thursday. Picture: David Beniuk

It’s understood the charges range from 2007 to 2016, covering $586,680 in alleged offending.

It was previously reported that the stealing charges included 43 alleged victims, including 37 individuals, couples and families, three companies and three superannuation funds.

News Corp has covered various horror stories from investors, including a Tasmanian couple who said they would have to work an extra six years to recover the $30,000 they lost in the buyback scheme, paid from their self-managed super fund.

Nant Distillery entered receivership in 2017, following a failed sale to Australian Whisky Holdings.

Nant Distillery entered receivership in 2017.

Australian Whisky Holdings conducted an audit of whisky stock in March 2017 – after announcing that it had entered into an agreement to buy the distillery business and Nant Estate from the Nant Group the year prior – allegedly finding “a number of serious anomalies”.

Mr Batt denied any wrongdoing at the time, telling media that Australian Whisky Holdings was “trying to spook everyone”.

Tasmanian Police opened a criminal investigation into the buyback investment scheme months later after receiving “several complaints of a fraudulent nature from investors.”

Mr Batt’s property company, Queensland Property Partners, was also placed into liquidation around the same time after he was declared bankrupt with debts of over $16m.

His bankruptcy was discharged in December 2023.

Mr Batt bought the historic Nant Estate in 2004 and started production in 2008.

In 2012, Nant Single Malt Whisky was rated among the top 50 whiskies in the world.

Originally published as Nant Distillery founder Keith Batt delays plea hearing as the buyback whisky scandal hits court