Billionaire Richard White had a relationship with an employee and gave her a $7 million mansion

Billionaire WiseTech founder Richard White had a lengthy relationship with an employee and gave her a luxury waterfront mansion worth $7 million, sparking unease among board members already battling to contain the crisis engulfing the software giant.

Christine Kontos, a product manager at the software firm, is a logistics expert who was recruited to WiseTech by White after their relationship commenced in 2016.

WiseTech founder Richard White, WiseTech employee Christine Kontos and the luxury home in Docklands.

When it ended seven years later, in 2023, Kontos was gifted the four-storey luxury home in Melbourne’s harbourfront Docklands via a company controlled by White’s friends, a joint investigation by The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Australian Financial Review can reveal.

The Melbourne home is the third multimillion-dollar property purchased by White, 69, for a woman he is alleged to have had a relationship with. However, it is the first that involves an employee of the technology empire that White founded and turned into a $34 billion company.

In a statement issued through his lawyers, White said he had disclosed the relationship with Kontos to the board in May 2017, before her hiring. But he said he had not told the board about the 2023 house transfer, claiming he was not required to because it was a “personal matter, unrelated to WiseTech”.

The board did not answer questions about whether it was aware of the Melbourne house, or whether it believed the transaction was proper.

The whisky room in the Melbourne mansion, which sold for nearly $7 million.

“The board continues to proactively make inquiries on a range of matters, monitor the situation and carefully consider all relevant factors,” a spokeswoman said. However, sources close to the company unable to comment publicly said several directors were concerned to learn about the house transfer to Kontos.

The company has previously said it considered details of White’s relationship with women, which spilled out as part of a separate Federal Court proceeding, to be personal.

WiseTech has a strict code of conduct which includes needing to disclose personal relationships to human resources to assess real or perceived potential conflicts of interest.

White denied the relationship had led to Kontos’ hiring at WiseTech. “Ms Kontos was at the time interviewed by the talent team and known to the directors of WiseTech. The final decision to employ Ms Kontos was validated by the board.” She did not report directly to Mr White, his lawyers said.

Linda Rogan has discontinued her case against Richard White in the Federal Court.

Lurid details about White’s private life have emerged over recent weeks after another former lover, Linda Rogan, took legal action to overturn an attempt by White to bankrupt her.

Rogan claimed in court that she had been expected to have sex with the billionaire in exchange for his investment in her wellness company. White is one of the richest people in the country, with an estimated fortune of $11.63 billion.

According to her friends, Kontos was for some time living with the billionaire at his Bexley house, in Sydney, and there was talk of marriage. The friends say she had no idea about the drama being played out between White’s other lovers.

However, in early October 2022 the emergence of White’s now-wife, Zena Nasser, dramatically ended Kontos’ long-term relationship with the billionaire. The following year, White transferred the Melbourne property to Kontos.

The property includes its own nine-seat private cinema.

Documents show that a company associated with White – Caduceus Asset Managers – had purchased the mansion in October 2021 for $6.91 million. The company was registered only days before the sale was finalised.

The directors of Caduceus were long-time friends of White. One was Reg Kennedy, White’s driver, who lives in one of the houses within the WiseTech Global founder’s compound in Bexley. The other was Tony Jex, who was in a glam rock band with White in the 1970s. Last month, White became the sole director and shareholder of Caduceus.

The four-level, four-bedroom waterfront Melbourne property transferred to Kontos features a custom-built chef’s kitchen, a whisky room finished with a Sub-Zero wine fridge, bar cabinetry and parquetry floors, a rooftop spa, infrared sauna, gym, private underground nine-seat cinema, four-car garage, and its own 15-metre marina berth.

Kontos declined to comment.

The Melbourne home’s rooftop balcony.

The Docklands house was purchased in the same month White offloaded a Lane Cove property in Sydney he’d promised an earlier partner.

While in relationships with Kontos and Nasser, White was also in a long-term sexual relationship with another woman.

White had bought this woman a four-bedroom house in Lane Cove, on Sydney’s lower north shore, for $4.18 million in September 2018. Property records show in early 2020, the woman lodged a caveat on the title of the house. Her caveat claims she and White had an “oral agreement” that the house was to be hers.

In late 2020, White informed the board that his lover was making numerous allegations against him. An external law firm conducted an investigation which cleared White, who later reached a multimillion-dollar settlement with the woman, and the house was sold for $5.375 million.

However, not all members of the board were made aware of the matter at the time, and the company has since announced it will re-examine the allegations and the payout.

WiseTech shares plunged on Monday after the publication of this masthead’s joint investigation into the activities of what one woman dubbed “the LinkedIn Lecher”. The share drop wiped $6 billion from the company’s market value and an estimated $2 billion from White’s personal wealth.

During a crisis meeting last Sunday, the board learnt for the first time that an application for an apprehended violence order had been made against White.

On March 24, 2021 – the same day White’s confidential settlement with the woman was finalised – Nasser, 45, went to Sutherland police in Sydney applying for an apprehended violence order against White. The Sutherland Local Court was told in May 2021 that Nasser, a former criminal lawyer, was withdrawing her AVO application.

Neither Nasser nor White responded to questions about the AVO. Instead, a response was received from a source claiming to be a close family member who assured The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Australian Financial Review that “Zena was at the time in a distorted mental state and suffering a paranoid episode.” The source also suggested the episode was the culmination of depression, “a ruptured breast implant … and mixing strong prescribed medications”.

Until now, the board has considered the various scandals embroiling its chief executive, founder and largest shareholder as a “personal matter”.

Late on Monday, White and Rogan, the Sydney wellness entrepreneur, settled their legal dispute in the Federal Court. Sources indicated Rogan will receive millions of dollars as part of the settlement. White lodged a bankruptcy notice on Rogan in August.

A spokesman for White said Rogan withdrew her allegations as part of the settlement. “Given this was a personal matter Mr White has settled to avoid any distraction from his primary focus, which is on implementing WiseTech’s growth strategy and continuing to create value for its shareholders and customers,” the spokesman said.

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