High-profile names caught up in failed festival The Grass is Greener
The biggest creditor in the failed Grass is Greener festival is a YouTuber famed for live-streaming high-stakes gambling exploits. He’s one of many high-profile names caught up in the mess.
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The biggest creditor in the failed Grass is Greener festival is a YouTuber made famous for live-streaming his high-stakes gambling exploits.
David Nicholas, aka “The Captain Davo”, is a self-styled “entrepreneur” from Adelaide who loaned the festival $1.25m in the weeks before the company behind it went into administration.
Mr Nicholas, 29, who boasts more than 600,000 social followers, is one of a host of high-profile names that have been caught up in the failed festival company.
Celebrity friends
Festival founder Oliver Fines-Frost, 31, more commonly known as Oli Frost, has profile locally for launching Maman Restaurant at Burleigh Heads, with Ironman Matt Poole.
Despite both men being well-known in their own right, each have been eclipsed by the fame of their partners – with Mr Poole recently splitting from global social media sensation Tammy Hembrow and Mr Frost engaged to influencer and podcaster Nikki Westcott.
Maman restaurant was found to be among multiple Frost-linked businesses which had been propped up with more than $760,000 of festival funds, before The Grass is Greener company, Hand Picked Events and Marketing, went into administration in December.
The interest-free loans will never be repaid – after creditors voted for a deed of company arrangement – leaving creditors of the festival out of pocket.
There was no sign of the financial struggles for Mr Frost last August when he popped the question to Ms Westcott on a beach in Mallorca, Spain, on a dreamy European holiday.
The model posted a photo to Instagram of the pair celebrating the moment with champagne.
“Somewhere on a beach in Mallorca it was a yes,” she wrote at the time.
DJs in the mix
As well as his restaurant businesses, Mr Frost shares an F45 gym in Lismore with Tenzin Stark.
Stark, 41, who performs as “DJ Tenzin”, has played major festivals including Big Day Out and Splendour in the Grass and recently toured with UK rap juggernaut Example.
He played The Grass is Greener, often hosting from the main stage, from the inception of the festival.
The F45 business, which trades via company Dynamite Holdings, owes $53,000 to the company behind The Grass is Greener.
The loan is considered unrecoverable as the gym has encountered “poor trading” and does not have capacity to repay it.
One-time DJ and Grass is Greener co-founder Jonathan “Johnny” Eddings, 43, originally from Cairns, is also a shareholder of Dynamite Holdings.
Burleigh’s Jade Mulholland, 29, is also caught up in the Grass is Greener administration.
With DJ brother Jessy, Mr Mulholland developed the SearchParty app in 2019 to help friends find each other at festivals.
Mr “The Captain Davo” Nicholas was represented in creditor meetings by Mr Mulholland, whose family businesses have the same address as the festival’s head office at Burleigh Heads.
As well as Maman and F45 Lismore, Grass is Greener founders Frost and Eddings have interests in other eateries, including Naami at Burleigh, Luciana Tapas at Tugun, and Milky Lane at Surfers Paradise.
All of those companies received interest-free loans from the festival which will never have to be repaid under the deed of company arrangement.
The Captain Davo
South Australian David Nicholas, 29, found fame live-streaming video of himself feeding large wads of money into poker machines, with more than 600,000 followers lapping it up.
More recently, the self-dubbed “entrepreneur” has launched The Captain Davo Consulting, which is described on its website as “one of the leading venture capital firms in Australia”.
“As a venture capital firm in Australia, Captain Davo is aggressively looking to expand its portfolio by partnering with founders and corporate owners who wish to take their ideas or business to the next level,” the website said.
“Let us know about your incredible idea, and we will offer you capital investment and a kickstart program.”
Mr Nicholas’ company DN Holdings is the largest creditor of Hand Picked Events and Marketing, the company behind The Grass is Greener.
It loaned the festival $1.25m shortly before it went into administration.
In December, two months after The Grass is Greener failed, Mr Mulholland created a new company called TGIG, with his mother Sara Mulholland’s company JJSC and Mr Nicholas’s DN Holdings joint shareholders.
The new company has the same registered office and principal place of business used by The Grass is Greener.
Mr Mulholland said The Grass is Greener festival could have a new future with a new owner.
“We’re trying to move the IP to a new entity where we may be purchasing the IP from The Grass is Greener,” he said.
TikTok lawyer
Lawyer James Diamond, 29, was named by administrators of the festival as a related party, as he stepped in as a director from July to October 2022.
Mr Diamond is principal of Diamond Law at Burleigh Heads, and has amassed more than 54,000 followers of his legal advice and suit videos on TikTok.
He also hosts a podcast named The Diamond Diary.
Oli Frost featured as a guest of the podcast in 2021, talking about “how to avoid having idiots in and around businesses”.
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Originally published as High-profile names caught up in failed festival The Grass is Greener
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