Luke Hemmings, aka Dene Broadbelt, running Whitefox Recruitment on Gold Coast

A former radio DJ and real estate agent who was once accused of faking his own death and left a trail of debts around Australia, has moved to the Gold Coast and opened a recruitment firm. Read our special report

A former radio DJ and real estate agent who has left a trail of debts around Australia, has moved to the Gold Coast and opened a recruitment firm.

Luke Hemmings – who has also been known as Dene Broadbelt, Lucas Hemmings, Dene Musillon, Harrison O’Connor, Harrison Eyles, Nic Lloyd and Clay O’Connor – is running Whitefox Recruitment in Southport.

Whitefox, which bills itself as “the Gold Coast’s leading multi-award winning recruitment agency”, took over the Facebook page and Google listing that had belonged to Mr Hemmings’s failed Canberra-based recruiting agency, Coceptive Recruitment, which went into liquidation owing $760,000 in 2021.

The liquidator of the company was investigating “potential illegal phoenix activity” in the wake of the collapse.

Luke Hemmings, aka Dene Broadbelt, aka Dene Mussillon. Whitefox Recruitment

Mr Hemmings, who was once accused of faking his own death and falsely claiming he was an ambassador for high-profile charities, was also behind a music festival which never eventuated, posed as a well-connected talent agent and started a photography business which suppliers claimed dudded them out of time and money.

In 2018 he pleaded guilty to the charge of using a carriage service to menace, harass and offend over an alleged explicit late night phone call to his married personal trainer.

The case was dismissed on mental health grounds.

It is unclear whether his Canberra company behind Coceptive, Lindsay Ellison Group, ever had any paying clients.

Dene Broadbelt, now known as Luke Hemmings, arrives at the Downing Centre in Sydney on November 7, 2018.

Liquidator Gavin Moss reported to creditors that the company had “no revenue” and relied solely on loans for its cash flow.

Its largest creditor was business lender BizPay, which was owed more than $670,000.

Mr Moss said another company, Lambert Willcox Group, had been formed around the same time the company ceased trading and had carried on using the Coceptive name and logo.

The report said Lambert Willcox, then directed by Mr Hemmings’s mother Suzanne Musillon, was “operating a similar business” to Coceptive.

“Further investigations are required to determine if the Company’s officeholders were involved in any potential illegal phoenix activity,” the report said.

Suzanne Mussillon with her son Dene Broadbelt, aka Luke Hemmings, Dene Mussillon and many more names.

The report added the liquidator would require funding from creditors to pursue the matter further. The Gold Coast Bulletin has contacted Mr Moss for an update on his investigation.

It appears the newer company Lambert Willcox, now solely directed by Mr Hemmings, has found similar problems to its predecessor.

Company records show it is subject to a new Federal Court wind-up application, commenced by Ormeau-based business lender FSoft on November 17.

Luke Hemmings at his Southport office of Whitefox Recruitment. Picture Glenn Hampson

The Coceptive collapse did not dull the ambitions of Mr Hemmings, 30, to succeed in the recruitment sector.

He registered business names for White Fox Recruitment Gold Coast and Whitefox Recruitment last November, giving his home address as a $900/week rental unit on Remembrance Dr, Surfers Paradise.

When the Gold Coast Bulletin phoned Whitefox’s office on Scarborough St, a recorded advertisement said the business had “won the title of best recruitment agency in Australia, three years in a row, at the Australian Small Business Champion Awards”.

Although Coceptive Group was named a finalist in those awards in 2021 and 2022 – albeit after it went into liquidation – and Whitefox was named a finalist for 2023, it has never won the title.

Answering the phone, Mr Hemmings said he hadn’t heard the recording.

“I don’t upload those,” he said.

Whitefox Recruitment facebook page.

Mr Hemmings did not want to comment on the liquidator’s questions over whether the new company was an illegal phoenix operation, but said Whitefox was “not 100 per cent a new business”.

“Basically, we’ve recently relocated the business from Canberra to Gold Coast,” he said.

Mr Hemmings said the business “rebranded” in 2021, and was still the same business but had “different owners”.

Like the liquidated company behind Coceptive, Whitefox Recruitment is solely directed by Mr Hemmings, who is also the sole shareholder, company records show.

Suzanne Musillon and her son Luke Hemmings, aka Dene Broadbelt.

Mr Hemmings said key Coceptive creditor Bizpay never should have loaned him the money.

“Any form of responsible lending, they should have done background checks, credit checks, even before lending that substantial amount of money,” he said.

“Who in their right mind just keeps lending without doing due diligence?”

Mr Hemmings is also sole director and shareholder of Lambert Willcox, which is subject to the new wind-up application.

He declined to comment on the details of the new wind-up action, but said he planned to “challenge” it.

Asked about the prolific publicity around his previous ventures, Mr Hemmings denied any of it was true.

Image from now-defunct website denebroadbelt.com.au

Mr Hemmings has never been charged with a white collar offence, but a real estate licensing tribunal found he had made “false and misleading” statements to cover up the “egregious reality” of his business history.

“If any of this was true, why hasn’t there been any criminal proceedings of fraud allegation, deceptive conduct, any of that nature, brought before the courts?,” he said.

“There was liquidation proceedings, that’s factual of course.

“Where’s the actual proof (of criminal allegations)? It’s just going off he-says, she-says situations.

“Like, are you guys running real news or are you running fake news?”