Calls for Miss Universe Australia to step down amid reports her family owes up to $45m to creditors

Moraya Wilson, Australia’s Miss Universe, has been told to hand over her tiara as a $45 million controversy erupts in “madness”.

EXCLUSIVE

A petition is calling for Australia’s Miss Universe representative to step down following reports her family owes up to $45 million to creditors.

Last month, news.com.au reported that Moraya Wilson, who earned the title of Miss Universe Australia at a national beauty pageant, is the daughter of two bankrupt property developers linked to a corporate collapse that has left a trail of devastation.

According to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), companies run by her parents, Anton and Melinda Wilson, owe more than $45 million to creditors following multiple company liquidations, including approximately $21 million to the tax office.

Anton Wilson is due in court next month on charges of knowingly signing a false declaration and for defrauding creditors of a bankrupt. He is fighting the allegations.

His daughter Moraya Wilson is also in ASIC’s crosshairs, as she is the director of 10 companies that the regulator is seeking to have struck off the business register.

Ms Wilson has denied any knowledge or involvement in the businesses to news.com.au.

Since her family history came to light, a member of the public has started a petition on Change.org calling for Australia’s top model to step down.

Nicholas Crouch of insolvency firm Crouch Amirbeaggi, who is the bankrupt trustee of Anton Wilson, alleges that the glamorous Moraya was listed as the sole director of these 10 companies to enable the family business to continue despite her parent’s bankruptcies.

Anton Wilson’s “21-year-old daughter is now nominated as the director of the family construction group”, Mr Crouch wrote in a submission to a parliamentary inquiry into ASIC, lodged last year. “It would appear the family business has not been disrupted by strategic bankruptcies and liquidations.”

Moraya Wilson won Australia’s beauty pageant in September.

She is flying to El Salvador next month to compete.

In a statement to news.com.au, Moraya said she was not actively involved in any of the 10 companies despite being listed as the director.

She said she had “tendered my resignation from all of the companies”.

One of the companies Moraya is director of owes $13,204 to the Australian Taxation Office, meaning it was operating and trading as a business.

When The Age contacted her father asking about her directorships, Anton said: “Mate, f***ed if I know. Give her (Moraya) a ring.”

However, he later claimed to news.com.au he was misquoted.

Anton said to news.com.au when Moraya was 19, and already a successful model, she told him she wanted “to carve a career in property development”.

He said he gave her “general father-daughter advice” even though he was bankrupt from his own foray into the industry.

“I just politely, as a father does to his daughter, said ‘I’ll help you get into business’. Pretty simple,” Anton added.

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Anton Wilson has been accused of defrauding creditors.

Moraya said she was aware there was a Change.org petition calling for her to step down as Australia’s top model but she intended to compete in the international pageant later this month.

“I have become aware of a petition,” she said.

“I intend to fulfil my duties as Miss Universe Australia to the best of my ability with the full support of The Miss Universe Australia management.”

The petition calling for Moraya to step down states: “Miss Universe is an international competition that empowers women and promotes diverse representations of beauty across the globe. This beauty goes beyond appearance and includes character and personality …”

Troy Barbagallo, the organiser of the Miss Australia pageant, said the controversy was “none of my business” and that it didn’t affect his choice of Moraya as Australia’s top model.

“There is (a) wide range of criteria and a large selection committee who found Moraya to be the best person for the job among 24 exceptional women and we stand by that decision,” he added.

Moraya is set to travel to El Salvador later in November for the international pageant.

Creditors of the Wilson family say it is galling to see her win the Miss Universe pageant.

Both Moraya’s parents are bankrupt but she is refusing to step down over the controversy.

Creditors and members of the public want Moraya Wilson to step down.

‘Just pay your bills’

“This is insane,” Mr Crouch, who is overseeing the term of Anton Wilson’s bankruptcy, told news.com.au. “This is madness. Just pay your bills.”

Anton Wilson went bankrupt in 2017 and it was meant to last for three years. However, it was extended due to claims that he had not complied with the bankruptcy trustee.

His bankruptcy is set to end next year.

Mr Crouch has racked up $400,000 of debt from his own investigations, which he does not expect to recoup, after looking into what he describes as the Wilson “empire”.

He has written to three government bodies – ASIC, the ATO, and also to Australian Financial Security Authority (AFSA) which oversees bankruptcies – for funding to continue his investigations into where all the money has gone.

All three bodies have rejected his request. They also wouldn’t comment specifically on this case to news.com.au, citing privacy obligations.

Mr Crouch said the denial for funding was ironic because he is looking to recover at least $21 million in government money.

However, AFSA is pursuing Anton Wilson through the court system over allegations of signing false declarations and defrauding creditors.

Liquidators look into the money involved in a collapsed company while bankrupt trustees are in charge of someone’s personal estate. Anton Wilson appointed several different liquidators across his property empire and then Mr Crouch as his bankruptcy trustee.

“The liquidators and the trustees don’t talk often,” Mr Crouch explained. “There’s a discrepancy between them.”

Anton Wilson said he was challenging the criminal charges that have been laid against him, saying that was “on foot”.

Moraya Wilson is listed as the director of 10 building and property development companies on the ASIC register.

Moraya Wilson denied any involvement in any of the 10 companies.

The property development that caused a legal battle between Anton Wilson and his former friend Nick Caple.

Former friend of Anton Wilson owed $2.885 million

Nick Caple is one of the creditors owed an eye-watering $2.885 million from one of Anton’s failed businesses, according to a civil court order.

Mr Caple, a Melbourne businessman, was once a friend of Anton’s and lent him $3 million for a property development in Melbourne’s CBD, with an agreement that profits would be shared equally.

But, the Supreme Court of Victoria found that Anton transferred the assets of the company to another of his companies while payments to Mr Caple were still outstanding.

At that point in time, in 2012, the business in question had made a net profit of $14.9 million, of which Mr Caple’s business was entitled to half.

A title search by Mr Caple’s lawyer led him to discover that there was nothing left in the company as all assets had been transferred out.

“Our friendship was over immediately,” Mr Caple said.

The Supreme Court of Victoria in 2016 ruled in favour of Mr Caple and his business, ordering Anton’s business, Mider@Franklin, pay him $2.885 million back, plus interest.

On the court’s findings, Anton said he had been “stitched up”. “It doesn’t matter what the court found,” he added.

Mr Caple is yet to see a cent of the money ordered to be paid back to him as the company, Mider@Franklin, is now in liquidation and Anton is bankrupt.

“There is a pot of gold somewhere,” Mr Caple alleged to news.com.au.

“How else do you put four kids through private school and rent $3,500 per week houses while bankrupt? The authorities have not helped one iota.”

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