ALAMMC Developments: Court approves sale of eight properties amid ASIC probe, receivership
Company receivers controlling the assets of a Gold Coast property developer who gambled up to $39m of investor funds at The Star have secured a win in their bid to claw back value for dudded clients.
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Company receivers have been granted approval to offload eight properties, including a palatial $5 million-plus acreage at Tallebudgera, connected to a Gold Coast developer alleged to have gambled away millions in investor funds and provided unauthorised financial services.
Southport headquartered ALAMMC Developments and a suite of related entities, some of which offered investment opportunities for purpose-built, NDIS-compatible property development schemes, first came to the attention of corporate regulator ASIC in July 2024.
According to ASIC its investigation was prompted by a tip-off from the Queensland Office of Liquor and Gaming that company director David George McWilliams was gambling exorbitant sums at The Star.
Mr McWilliams, his wife Laura Mary Fullarton, and the ALAMMC companies had their assets frozen in September (Mr McWilliams was also banned from leaving the country until July 1, 2025 at the earliest), before company receivers were appointed in October.
Federal Court Justice Patrick O’Sullivan approved the receivership after hearing evidence
Mr McWilliams gambled $39.53m, with a total net loss of $3.87m, between October 2022 and February 2024.
“Having traced at least some of the funds provided by investors, ASIC concluded that the $39 million used for gambling appeared to have been from those funds,” Justice O’Sullivan said at the time.
On March 12, Justice O’Sullivan ruled company receivers Andrew Peter Fielding and Helen Newman, of BDO Australia, would be “justified and acting reasonably in exercising their power of sale” if they were to offload eight properties owned by the pair and their companies.
Among the properties authorised for sale by Justice O’Sullivan is 22 Kooringal Court, Tallebudgera, a sprawling five-bedroom residence on a 5337 sqm block, which was purchased by Ms Fullarton in April last year for $5,088,888.
Two units within Q1 at Surfers Paradise costing a combined $1.13m when Ms Fullarton purchased them in 2022, and with a present-day estimation of $1.5m, were also approved for sale, as were a series of dwellings and blocks of land in Western Australia and Townsville.
Two of those sites, at 18 Kwong Alley, North Fremantle, and 29 Victoria St, Midland, had been slated for NDIS-funded, specialist disability accommodation to be built by ALAMMC, which promised investors they would be a “secure, yet highly lucrative investment opportunity for those seeking to direct their funds toward a socially beneficial cause”.
Justice O’Sullivan also gave his approval for the receivers to back out of yet another property purchase made by an ALAMMC entity, in Tamworth, that was yet to settle.
The receivers’ report, in which they “identify, collect, and secure the property; ascertain the amount of the investor funds received; identify any dealings with, payments of, distributions of, or uses made of, the investor funds; [and] identify any property purchased or acquired with investor funds” is currently subject to confidentiality orders.
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