Weight Loss Solutions Australia company WLSA Investments facing court wind up over tax debt

A failed wellness entrepreneur has found more financial trouble, with another of her companies being taken to court. Read what’s happened

• Companies in liquidation owing millions
• Staff, patients impacted by collapse

A failed wellness entrepreneur has found more financial trouble, with another of her companies facing a Federal Court wind-up over allegedly unpaid tax.

Felicity Jane Cohen, 59, CEO of Weight Loss Solutions Australia, has overseen a series of company collapses which have left creditors millions of dollars out of pocket.

This week she said she was suffering a “devastating” personal impact from the failures.

Weight Loss Solutions Australia facilitates bariatric surgeries and other slimming procedures from its headquarters at Varsity Lakes.

Two companies associated with the business – Bariatric Patient Management Australia and WLSA – have gone into liquidation, with debts of almost $3 million between them.

Now a third company, WLSA Investments, solely directed by Ms Cohen, has been served a wind-up application, brought by the Deputy Commissioner of Taxation.

The business is now being operated via another company, Brilliant Bariatrics, which is not in liquidation.

Felicity Cohen. Picture: Richard Gosling

Ms Cohen declined to reveal the amount of the debt owed by WLSA Investments, what the company did or whether she would contest the windup.

“We do not have any obligation to provide this detail and a settlement may be reached which may be less than the amount stated,” she said.

“There was no staff for WLSA Investments, there are no creditors involved.”

A tearful Ms Cohen said she had been working hard to resolve the problems in the business.

“The personal impact is devastating right now,” she said.

“There’s nothing else really relevant that I can say about WLSA Investments that’s going to add any value to the previous story.

“In six months’ time, when I’ve had the opportunity to work my backside off and do whatever I can do deal with some of the issues of the past, that’s my intention.

“I think six months’ time will be a totally different opportunity to have a conversation and to share some of the detail behind the story, the accurate story.”

WLSA Investments is listed in financial records and liquidator reports as being owed more than $500,000 by the liquidated WLSA companies.

The amount of its tax debt is not yet publicly available and a hearing on the matter has been set for January 24 next year.

Weight Loss Solutions Australia CEO Felicity Cohen.

In a previous statement via her lawyer, Ms Cohen blamed her companies’ cash shortfall on patients “not making payments until after the due date”.

Staff of WLSA are owed more than $360,000 in unpaid superannuation and entitlements, with multiple former employees coming forward to talk about their struggles with the company.

A WLSA patient finally received a refund for her cancelled surgery more than a year ago, only after her story was published in the Gold Coast Bulletin.

The company now operating the WLSA business at Varsity Lakes – where Ms Cohen is still CEO – is called Brilliant Bariatrics.

It is directed by Brisbane anaesthetist Dimitri Fedorov, who reportedly paid up to $400,000 for it.

Dr Reza Adib – the partner of ex-Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk – also has a history with WLSA, having performed countless surgeries on clients of the business.

Dr Adib is not listed as a current or former director or shareholder in WLSA.

Reports lodged by the liquidator of one of the liquidated companies, Bariatric Patient Management Australia (BPMA), said Ms Cohen told him “she owes $1.98 million to the company in relation to a loan account” and had made no arrangement to pay it back.