Dr Roger Munro, who ASIC has twice tried to prosecute over $60m failed investment scheme, banned

AN acclaimed Broadway producer, whose award-winning show was backed by rapper Jay-Z and actor Will Smith, is among creditors owed more than $7m each by a company directed by a disgraced Coast trader.

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AN acclaimed Broadway producer whose award-winning show was backed by rapper Jay-Z and actor Will Smith is among creditors owed more than $7 million each by a company directed by a disgraced Gold Coast trader.

Company documents show Stephen Hendel, who conceived Broadway hit Fela! and is also a major player on Wall Street, is among four creditors owed a total of $22.7 million by RGMunro Futures, which has been in liquidation since 2008.

Liquidators believe they are unlikely to see their money again.

Two of the other creditors, Guy Merison and Stephen Semlitz, are Mr Hendel’s business partners in global energy trading company Hartree Partners, while the fourth, Erik de Vries, is a banking heavyweight in London.

The company was the Australian arm of a futures trading scheme that collapsed in 2009, owing investors up to $60 million, with another company involved, Starport Futures, registered in the US.

ASIC have twice unsuccessfully attempted to prosecute company director Roger Gareth Munro over the failed scheme, over which he has repeatedly denied wrongdoing.

However, the corporate watchdog had a win over Munro yesterday when the Supreme Court banned him from operating a financial services business after finding he had been doing that, and had raised more than $1.5 million from investors since 2011 without a licence.

ASIC also alleged his wife Kathleen Munro had aided or abetted Dr Munro in running the business.

The judge ordered that Mrs Munro not allow her husband to use accounts in her name to conduct financial services business.

Mrs Munro answered the door of the couple’s home yesterday, in an exclusive gated Benowa estate, but declined to speak to the Bulletin.

She is the only listed owner of the home for which she paid $848,000 in 2010.

Smiling at the cameras, tie loosened and stringy brown hair slicked backwards over grey stubble, Dr Munro looked every bit the Gold Coast wheeler-and-dealer stereotype as he left court after giving evidence in November.

An ASIC spokeswoman said the commission was not finished with its investigation of Dr Munro but could not specify which matter they were still investigating.

The court also ordered Dr Munro pay ASIC’s costs of the proceeding which are likely to be more than $50,000.