Oli Funds Management collapse: Creditors owed $106m as Luo Qi flees overseas
The man at the centre of a failed Sydney-based investment empire allegedly took a huge chunk of money before fleeing Australia. Creditors claim to be owed as much as $106 million.
NSW
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Creditors who claim to be owed as much as $106 million after the collapse of a Sydney-based investment empire have been told the guru they trusted may have committed fraud by allegedly taking a chunk of their money then leaving the country.
The Daily Telegraph can reveal a new report by liquidators of Oli Funds Management says forensic accountants who analysed two years of bank statements found millions of dollars in “unreasonable” transactions benefiting the sole director, Luo Qi, and his spouse.
In the report liquidators Philip Campbell-Wilson and John McInerney of Grant Thornton wrote: “It is our opinion that the transactions provided no benefit to the company and that they diminished funds that otherwise would have been available for distribution to creditors.
“We believe these transactions may meet the definition of an unreasonable director related transaction, or potentially, fraud.”
At a creditors meeting last month, Mr Campbell-Wilson said the “liquidators had identified share transfers totalling about $900,000 being made just prior” to their appointment, which was concerning.
Meanwhile a tracing exercise on four bank accounts identified potential related party transactions totalling $47.6m across three Oli companies.
Oli Funds Management creditors claim they are owed $3.5m. Creditors of the second company, Oli Capital, are seeking $34.9m. Meanwhile 132 parties want a whopping $68m out of Oli Private Investment.
However, at the moment it appears the companies have virtually no money or assets available to compensate them.
The two biggest creditors live at different addresses in the same Melbourne suburb – Balwyn North.
One is a 52-year-old woman claiming more than $7m; the other is a 24-year-old more than $6 million out of pocket.
A wider group of creditors is co-ordinating via the messaging app WeChat.
Discussions prior to recent Oli company creditor meetings saw more than 50 parties appoint the same proxy.
Those votes were then used to remove Grant Thornton as liquidator of Oli Private and Oli Capital.
The replacements, Melissa Poh Bee Lau and Chris Baskerville of Jirsch Sutherland, are discussing with solicitors a plan for a public examination of Mr Qi under the Corporations Act.
Mr Qi would be summoned to a court and questioned by lawyers. The questions must be answered truthfully.
Getting him to court may prove challenging. He reportedly fled to South Korea “for safety” earlier this year.
A Jirsch Sutherland spokeswoman said: “As investigations are in the early stages, it is too premature to comment on asset recovery at this point.”
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