Nerise Moore: Helensvale P&C President’s former firm investigated by fraud squad

The president of the Parents and Citizens Association at a large Gold Coast high school is being investigated for her bogus legal firm allegedly losing more than $430,000 of clients’ money.

The president of the Parents and Citizens Association at a large Gold Coast high school is being investigated for her bogus legal firm allegedly losing more than $430,000 of clients’ money.

Helensvale State High School P&C president Nerise Moore was disqualified by the Supreme Court on November 5 from managing any legal practice.

Justice Martin Burns said her conduct represented “a persistent and brazen fraud on consumers of the services of the legal profession” in Queensland.

Helensvale State High School P&C President Nerise Moore.

In hearings last month, the court heard that $433,690 of clients’ money had gone missing from the trust account of Ms Moore’s former legal firm, Stenton & Moore.

It had operated in Mudgeeraba since 2014.

A total of 42 clients, including elderly Gold Coasters, were left out of pocket after a compensation fund paid them 65 per cent of what they were owed.

Police say its Financial and Cyber Crime Group – colloquially known as the fraud squad – is investigating the issue of the missing funds.

Ms Moore has not been charged in relation to the missing funds. The Bulletin attempted to contact Ms Moore for comment, but did not receive a response.

Although Ms Moore had no legal qualifications, the court heard that from early 2014 she “provided legal advice to any number of clients while holding herself out as a qualified solicitor” and continued to operate the company when lawyer Graham Stenton left the business in 2018.

The court heard that Ms Moore made two “deceitful” attempts to install someone as the legal practitioner director of the company, before the Queensland Law Society discovered it had no legal practitioners on its books and appointed receivers on February 7, 2019.

Post by Helensvale State High School on March 8, 2019.

On March 8 that year the Supreme Court granted an injunction restraining Ms Moore from engaging in legal practice or holding herself as a qualified practitioner.

That very same day, in a social media post, Helensvale State High School said Ms Moore’s “legal firm” had sponsored an International Women’s Day Event at the school.

“HSHS celebrated International Women’s Day with guest speaker Tara Pitt, runner up of Australian Survivor 2017,” the post read. “Proudly sponsored by Mrs Nerise Moore and her legal firm in conjunction with the P&C.”

Helensvale State High School P&C President Nerise Moore with former Prime Minister Tony Abbott in 2015.

Helensvale State High School P&C President Nerise Moore with McPherson MP Karen Andrews in 2016.

In other posts on the school’s Facebook page – published prior to her firm’s collapse – Ms Moore is depicted with prominent politicians, including former Prime Minister Tony Abbott and federal Ministers Stuart Robert and Karen Andrews.

There is no suggestion that any of them were aware of any wrongdoing.

Neither is there any suggestion of any wrongdoing at the school’s P&C.

A spokesperson for the Department of Education told the Bulletin its finances were “independently audited” each year and reports had “not highlighted any issues”.

On April 22 last year Ms Moore pleaded guilty to engaging in legal practice when she was not an Australian legal practitioner. She was fined $5000 and no conviction was recorded.

In recent months, Financial and Cyber Crime Group detectives have taken statements from former clients of Ms Moore’s firm, among them Mudgeeraba councillor Glenn Tozer.

Mr Tozer told the Bulletin Ms Moore, who was also formerly president of the Mudgeeraba Chamber of Commerce, had not had any role in the Mudgeeraba community since allegations about her former firm came to light.

In relation to her role at Helensvale State High School, the Department of Education spokesperson said they were “unable to make any further comment on matters that are currently under investigation”.

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Originally published as Nerise Moore: Helensvale P&C President’s former firm investigated by fraud squad