Maurice Egbert charged with $340k theft from Alice McCall label

At the same time fashion label Alice McCall was collapsing under a mountain of debt, police allege its financial controller was stealing $340,000.

The financial controller of fallen fashion label Alice McCall has been charged with stealing more than $340,000 from the prestige rag trader around the time the company was collapsing under a mountain of debt.

Maurice Egbert is facing three charges of dishonestly obtaining a financial advantage by deception after police accused him of making 290 payments to his personal bank account from the company’s coffers in less than three years.

Police claim the 52-year-old disguised the payments as false invoices to suppliers who worked with the fashion house.

At its peak, the company had 14 shops in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

Police claim the alleged payments were uncovered when the fashion house’s general manager Brett Robbins reviewed the company’s expenses in April 2022 and noticed the company’s expenditure with suppliers was much higher than expected.

A man has been charged with stealing $340K from designer Alice McCall’s self-titled fashion label. Picture: Tim Hunter.

Alice McCall stores went into voluntary administration. Picture:Justin Lloyd.

According to court documents, police allege the suppliers were listed as being paid, which raised a further red flag for Mr Robbins because they were no longer being used by the company.

The company executives conducted their own investigation and allegedly realised the money had been paid to three bank accounts that belonged to Egbert, police allege in documents aired in court.

Court documents said ­Egbert was responsible for ­paying suppliers and used an online portal connected to the company’s bank accounts to pay the money.

Mr Robbins, Ms McCall and the company’s head of operations confronted Egbert on May 5 regarding the payments on May 5, 2022.

The court documents said Egbert told them he used the money to “support a gambling addiction” and was “paying someone off”.

Egbert was charged by the South Sydney Proactive Crime team in December.

Designer Alice McCall.

The 52-year-old fronted the Downing Centre Local Court on February 13 where his lawyer Omar Juweinat told the court the police claims will be tested by an examination of the company’s financial documents.

“The facts are somewhat complicated and will require an analysis of the baking records together with the material available to the liquidators to determine whether the quantum is properly established,” Mr Juweinat told the court.

According to business records, the fashion label was placed into administration in November 2020 after it was hit hard by the pandemic.

The company has since been placed into liquidation.

After failing to trade its way out of trouble, the company was put into liquidation.

Liquidator reports said the company was carrying debts of $1.1 million. The biggest debt was $677,000 owed to the Australian Taxation Office.

After the company was placed into liquidation, Ms McCall wrote on social media: “It is time to close the doors, making space for a new chapter in my life. I want to say thank you and acknowledge all the people that have worn, supported and loved the brand.”

Egbert will return to court in May.