Roxy Jacenko steps away from win a $10m house promotion

A controversial ‘house giveaway’ promotion jointly created by Roxy Jacenko and two business partners will proceed without the PR queen after she resigned from the start-up company in emotional weekend social media posts.

A controversial “house giveaway” promotion jointly created by Roxy Jacenko and two business partners will proceed without the PR queen after she resigned from the start-up company in emotional weekend social media posts.

Ms Jacenko’s former business partner Youssef Tleis on Saturday said he and his associate Kassim Alaouie were no longer in business with her in Roxy’s Bootcamp Pty Ltd, but the house giveaway would still go ahead, with entries to close June 6.

The promotion gave people a chance to win a home at Cronulla, billed as being worth $10 million.

Those who signed up and paid between $29 and $499 for Jacenko’s online business course, Brand Bootcamp, were entered in a draw that would give one of them a chance to win the house and other luxe prizes.

The complicated promotion was launched in a wave of publicity but the relationship between the partners soured.

Youssef Tleis, Kassim Alaouie and Roxy Jacenko in a publicity shot for the win-a-house promotion. Picture: Instagram

Mr Tleis claims he sought legal action to obtain access to business accounts they shared with Ms Jacenko last month, a claim she denies.

The dispute escalated on Friday night when Ms Jacenko posted a social media video claiming she was in dispute with her partners. She followed it up with a second video Saturday, ­offering to pay the 7000-plus competition entrants back any moneys they had paid.

Ms Jacenko has now moved to distance herself from the complicated promotion. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

Speaking to The Sunday Telegraph on Saturday, Mr Tleis was eager to counter statements made by Ms Jacenko in the seven-minute Instagram post, including claims the company’s “bank account didn’t have the funds to ensure (the) $250,000 guaranteed prize”.

Ms Jacenko claims there has been a “shortfall” in the prizemoney pool, alleging she deposited some of her own money.

Mr Tleis flatly denied this and assured competition entrants that the $250,000 cash prize was “safely” sitting in the company’s bank account.

“The account has a surplus of funds,” Mr Tleis said. “She has had access to that ­account for some time. I only removed it on Friday night after Roxy published that (Instagram) post.”

The PR queen has vowed to personally refund all entrants. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

In her emotional post, Ms Jacenko took aim at her ­estranged business partners, alleging their relationship, which began three months ago, had broken down.

The admitted Ozempic user proceeded to describe the past two months as “stressful”.

“I am 49kg. Today I have fainted twice,” she said, later reassuring her followers by saying she had since eaten some KFC.

She further added she had taken the competition’s two runner-up prizes — a Birkin handbag and a Rolex watch — “hostage”.

Mr Tleis on Saturday claimed the only prizes currently not under his control were the handbag and the $20,000 watch now in Ms Jacenko’s possession.

In their original agreement, Ms Jacenko was to buy the items for the prize pool as part of her investment in the promotion.

In discussing the troubled partnership, Mr Tleis put his side of the origins of the company, founded in February. He said he initially approached Ms Jacenko with a view to recruiting a celebrity from her influencer stable, Ministry of Talent, for the promotion.

“She said: ‘Do it with me’. She recommended herself. She said she had the reach,” he said, a claim Ms Jacenko ­denied, saying they approached her via her personal accounts.

Ms Jacenko posted a late-night video about the competition on Friday night.

With Ms Jacenko based in Singapore, the couple held a series of Zoom calls to set up the company, which would see Ms Jacenko take a 50 per cent shareholding while Tleis and Alaouie would each hold 25 per cent each, Mr Tleis said.

He said the trio discussed hopes of making $20 million together in a range of future digital marketing ­initiatives.

The “house giveaway” promotion was to have been the first of these and was jointly conceived by the three directors, Mr Tleis said.

The promotion ran into early trouble however, when media reports didn’t clearly state entrants only had a “chance” of winning the major prize, the Cronulla waterfront house which he and Mr Alaouie own.

The complicated promotion also said the home was worth $10 million, but it was pulled from auction ahead of the December 6 scheduled date.

The men purchased the home in 2020 for $3.36 million before transforming it. The terms of the promotion were later clarified

Stung by media criticism, in mid-April Jacenko resigned from the company, which resulted in Mr Tleis being locked out of company accounts, he claimed on Saturday.

A second video was posted to Instagram on Saturday.

“I was locked out of everything from the Shopify store, social media, my email ­address, everything and the company bank account was frozen. She emailed the business bank manager at NAB and said there was a dispute,” he claimed.

Mr Tleis said he then briefed a barrister to help access the accounts. He said ultimately legal proceedings were averted when he was granted access to the accounts on condition Ms Jacenko was permitted to exit the business.

Mr Tleis claims there were attempts to repair the relationship before it broke down again, irreparably, on May 1.

He and Mr Alaouie then decided to make their own plans to resign from the business.

Mr Tleis believes it was when Ms Jacenko learned last week of the men’s plans to walk away from the company that she decided to make the Instagram post.

They remain the sole directors of the company.

On Saturday, Jacenko published the second Instagram post, offering to personally reimburse entrants who had participated in the promotion.

“I was backed into a corner. My name was all over this but I don’t have any control,” she said.

“So all I can do is refund each and every one of you.

“After much thought, I have made a decision and that decision is that I will personally refund each and every one of the 7000-plus customers who have purchased a package.

“To me, holding my head high, standing my ground and making sure that each and every one of you who have purchased a package is refunded, is really important.”

Mr Tleis questioned her pledge, given she was no longer a director of Roxy’s Bootcamp Pty Ltd. He also disputed Jacenko’s claims she is $320,000 out of pocket.

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