High-flying beseiged builder Danny Isaac faces bankruptcy after $135m Descon collapse

The lavish-living director who built a billion-dollar building empire and then oversaw one of Australia’s biggest construction collapses is facing bankruptcy as he’s chased by the ATO.

He moved states and changed his name after being declared bankrupt, only to build a billon-dollar building empire under the noses of regulators.

Now, after overseeing one of Australia’s worst construction group collapses, Danny Isaac is again facing bankruptcy.

The tax office is seeking to bankrupt Mr Isaac, whose Descon Group collapsed last year owing hundreds of millions and leaving a slew of unfinished projects, over personal tax debt and penalty notices totalling $12.1m

Mr Isaac, who has been in Dubai since October 2023, is defending the action, which was initiated by commercial creditors who have since settled with him out of court.

Documents lodged with ASIC this month have revealed debts claimed by Descon creditors had climbed above $760m – although the complexity of security arrangements, incomplete financial records and transfers between the related companies make the total uncertain.

Danny Isaac now lives in Dubai after overseeing one of Australia’s biggest builder collapses.

Administrators believe Descon’s total external debt to be at least $135m, but have recommended creditors vote in favour of accepting a payout of just $7.7m under an agreement proposed by Mr Isaac to reincarnate the group.

The companies owe $26m in tax, $6m in unpaid staff superannuation and another $600,000 in other employee entitlements, the documents said.

The companies also owe millions of dollars to small and medium trade businesses and suppliers, and the collapse have also impacted scroes of entry-level apartment buyers now priced out of the market.

Over more than a decade, Descon and its related Adcon companies scored contracts for major civil infrastructure, including train stations in Melbourne, as well as large scale residential towers worth up to $1bn each in Brisbane, Sydney and on the Gold Coast.

In 2019, the group held naming rights for the North Port Oval at Port Melbourne, which was known as Adcon Stadium for the full VFL season.

In Brisbane, he posed smiling for photos after signing a $70m contract for land at Hamilton where he spruiked an $800m multi-use development - the contract never settled.

Likewise, Descon’s contracts to build the $1bn V&A twin tower project and part of the $3.2bn Imperial Square project on the Gold Coast also fell through and its plan to develop and build a 118-floor supertower at Surfers Paradise, did not eventuate.

Artist impression of the Orion Towers proposed for Surfers Paradise

Artists impression of the view from one of the towers at the 19 Hercules St, Hamilton development. Photo: Supplied

As the companies began falling behind on their debts, court documents and credit reports revealed Mr Isaac’s lifestyle of largesse.

Court records revealed he had a relationship with his Instagram-influencer personal assistant, who he then blamed in an affidavit for racking up hundreds of thousands in debt on his limitless black Amex card.

Allegations of a Rolls Royce Wraith, Land Rover, Rolex, a “large pile of expensive designer bags” and rent for multiple apartments being charged to the companies were aired in the cases.

Documents lodged in the bankruptcy case revealed Mr Isaac had spent more than $160,000 flying first-class across the world as creditors struggled under the weight of debt owed by his companies.

Preliminary investigations by a Descon liquidator, set out in a report filed with ASIC, found Mr Isaac “may have used company funds to pay for personal use assets (among other things)”.

The companies had paid for high-end luxury sports cars – including a Lamborghini Aventador and a Bentley Flying Spur which were not owned by the company.

Screenshots from the Descon Adcon website

Then in 2023 it was revealed Mr Isaac had previously been named Sami Adib – and had been an undischarged bankrupt when he moved from Western Australia, registered multiple companies and obtained builder licences in NSW and Queensland.

He ran his national construction businesses for seven years while technically bankrupt.

That ended after he paid his WA debts in 2020, with Mr Isaac claiming he was unaware he’d been bankrupt – the same claim made by regulators when asked how they’d allowed it to happen.

Sixteen related Descon companies, including six already in liquidation, have been combined into a single administration process, with David Stimpson of SV Partners appointed.

His 302-page administrator’s report this month revealed lender Busifund had seized more than $70m of Descon assets to cover some of its debts last year but that it was still owed around $48m.

Mr Isaac’s proposed deed of a company arrangement, aimed at pulling the group out of administration, will be funded by Busifund.

Under the deal, employee entitlements would be paid but other creditors would be left largely out of pocket.

A hearing for the bankruptcy case has been scheduled for May 27.

Originally published as High-flying beseiged builder Danny Isaac faces bankruptcy after $135m Descon collapse