ALAMMC Developments: Receivers’ report lays bare spending spree with investor funds
Porsches and Aston Martins, a bulging cryptocurrency wallet, shiny memorabilia – Gold Coast couple David McWilliams and Laura Fullarton lived the high life. The only problem? It wasn’t their money, a new report has claimed.
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A series of Gold Coast companies that gobbled up more than $100 million of investor funds, ostensibly for the development of specialist disability accommodation, instead splurged on luxury cars, sports memorabilia, cryptocurrency, and other frippery, a report has found.
Company receivers have been delving into the affairs of Southport-based ALAMMC Developments since last September, two months after corporate regulator ASIC received a tip-off from another agency that company director David George McWilliams was gambling exorbitant sums at The Star.
The ongoing investigation, which has also captured Mr McWilliams’ wife Laura Mary Fullarton, has resulted in asset preservation orders, a travel ban for Mr McWilliams (recently extended to January 2026), a fire sale of luxury properties and vehicles, and management of the pair’s personal finances.
The company receivers Helen Newman and Andrew Fielding’s report, filed with the Federal Court of Australia and previously subject to confidentiality orders, have now been made available.
According to their report, Mr McWilliams’ companies took receipt of approximately $107m worth of investor funds – from at least 525 investors – promised annual returns of 10 per cent, with a bonus 15 per cent once the development sold.
However, the companies only spent about a tenth of the funds on what they were meant for: developing specialist disability accommodation (another tenth – worth $11.36m – was returned to investors).
In fact, the receivers found Mr McWilliams’ companies had almost no other sources of income aside from investor funds, save for one entity which drew rental income via its ownership of the New Whyalla Hotel in South Australia.
Therefore, all operating costs, such as rent, wages, legal fees, and overheads, as well as property holding costs such as rates and land taxes, were paid from investor funds.
Additionally, a significant portion of the funds were spent on a dizzying array of risky investments and luxury goods that did not form part of the information memorandums the companies used to solicit investments, the report said.
Unauthorised investments included shares in a litigation funder ($2m), a group of Gold Coast talent management agencies ($0.6m), a Canadian data centre ($3m), and the development entity for a large Gold Coast hotel and mixed use development site, as well as the purchase of cryptocurrency ($3.3m), and the provision of finance loans to unrelated parties.
Additionally, the companies collectively loaned Mr McWilliams and Ms Fullarton $5.3m, according to the report.
Another large outgoing was $13.6m paid to a promoter, Armada Assets Pty Ltd, which hawked Mr McWilliams’ scheme in return for a 15 per cent commission on investor funds (investors were not told of this and Armada is now in liquidation).
Real property held by Mr McWilliams’ companies included 23 properties; 10 vehicles, three of which were considered prestige; and a variety of sports memorabilia.
The receivers produced a table of the properties held by the companies, all of which are subject to mortgages or caveats.
The table revealed ALAMMC did not in fact deliver a single completed development: three builds were commenced but then suspended; two are currently under construction but overseen by private receivers and managers; and most of the rest are vacant residential land.
However, there was also a pair of units used for holiday letting at the Q1 Resort, and a palatial Kooringal Ct, Tallebudgera residence, all three of which were sold at auction by the receivers.
The 22 Kooringal Ct property, purchased by Ms Fullarton for about $5.1m, was only able to achieve a sale price of $3.1m.
The companies held additional interests in four properties – including the 1.95ha site of a proposed resort in Fiji – for which they paid $11.45m.
The interests in these properties, purchased with investor funds, did not form a part of any information memorandums advising investors how their money would be spent.
Among the vehicles seized and sold by the receivers included a 2020 McLaren 7205 Coupe purchased for $210,000, a 2016 Porsche 718 Coupe (Cayman), and a 2023 Aston Martin F1 Vantage.
Other assets found in Mr McWilliams’ personal possession include a collection of counterfeit watches, an autographed Ed Sheeran guitar, and $110,000 cash.
Addended to the receivers’ report were images of ALAMMC’s Southport headquarters – a garish rumpus room containing a half basketball court, a pool table, and walls lined with framed memorabilia such as basketball jerseys featuring NBA stars Shaquille O’Neal and Steph Curry.
The headquarters were “not commensurate with a sophisticated property development business,” the receivers’ report dryly noted.
The receivers took a dim view of how Mr McWilliams managed his companies.
They found funds were deposited and moved higgledy-piggledy between various corporate entities, and that the cash remaining in various business accounts was not enough to cover even a month’s worth of interest owing to investors.
They said their investigation had been stymied by a “general lack of meaningful co-operation” from Mr McWilliams and Ms Fullarton.
Their intransigence included failing to hand over relevant financial documentation; demanding all communications go through their solicitors; claiming privilege over certain documents; and providing faulty information to the Federal Court as part of the ongoing proceeding.
Mr McWilliams and Ms Fullarton were contacted for comment via their solicitor’s office.
The receivers recommended all of Mr McWilliams’ corporate entities be placed into liquidation to maximise the return to dudded investors.
They further recommended the future liquidator be granted the power to conduct public examinations, which allows them to summon relevant persons to give evidence under oath in an open court.
The matter remains before the court and is awaiting a future listing, with the ball now firmly in ASIC’s court as it considers the best way to unscramble the egg.
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Originally published as ALAMMC Developments: Receivers’ report lays bare spending spree with investor funds
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