Oli Capital reported to ASIC after failure to assist in $60m collapse

The former boss of collapsed Chinese-Australian investment house Oli Capital could face criminal action after failing to assist liquidators.

Oli Funds Management and Oli Capital director Luo Qi in a YouTube video. Picture: YouTube

The former boss of collapsed Chinese-Australian investment house Oli Capital could face potential jail time or fines amid failures to assist with the $60m clean-up of the firm.

But signs are emerging former associates of the failed firm sensed issues with Oli Capital boss Luo Qi’s operation in October last year, months before the funds management business was placed into liquidation.

Blackchess co-founder Kelly Shi said she cut ties with Oli Capital firm in late 2022 and regrets sharing an office with the business in the heart of Sydney, as creditors chase their missing millions.

The Australian is aware some creditors of Oli Capital or associated failed entities Oli Private Investment and Oli Funds Management have been exploring links between the firms and Blackchess Investment.

But Ms Shi said there was no links and she last spoke with Mr Qi in late November, telling him to respond to clients seeking to contact him.

“There are no commercial links between Oli and Blackchess whatsoever,” Ms Shi told The Australian.

“The only association was shared offices in Sydney and Perth in the past and stopped after Oli collapsed.”

She said Blackchess moved to cut ties with Oli Capital in October, the same time the wholesale financial licensee terminated its delegation authority with the firm.

Corporate documents show Oli Capital held a 70 per cent shareholding in Blackchess before being sold down in late-2021 for a nominal sum.

However, Ms Shi said this was before the relaunch of Blackchess, as the corporate entity was largely dormant before August last year.

As revealed in The Australian, Oli Capital collapsed in February after the firm was placed into liquidation by a relative of Mr Qi who paid Grant Thornton receivers $100,000 to cover the cost of the wind-up.

The Oli group is now faced with almost 130 former clients demanding the return of their funds from three companies in liquidation.

However, several other operations in the Oli group remain in operation.

Speaking to The Australian in February Mr Qi said he was in South Korea “firstly for safety, and secondly to study and research the technology around hydrogen energy”.

In a video posted on the Chinese version of social media platform TikTok on February 23, Mr Qi told investors he was “still alive”, showing a montage of comments allegedly making threats to Oli Capital and Mr Qi.

“I will explain thoroughly in my later videos about what is true and untrue in the letter, as well as everything between Oli Capital and investor clients, the ins and outs of the entire matter, the current situation, and countermeasures in the future, “ Mr Qi told viewers.

The Oli Capital clean-up has been complicated by the company’s sprawling structure as well as Mr Qi’s failure to complete a report to liquidators on company activities and property.

Failure to complete a report of this kind exposes director’s to serious regulatory penalties, including fines of up to $10,000 for each breach or imprisonment.

A Grant Thornton spokeswoman said the firm had notified ASIC of Mr Qi’s failure to lodge the form.

“The Director has not yet provided the ROCAP and the Liquidators continue to follow up the Director to provide it,” she said.

Liquidators have not yet called a creditors meeting for the group, but some creditors are understood to be scoping out potential action to replace Grant Thornton liquidators Philip Campbell-Wilson and John McInerney amid concern over alleged links between the firm and Oli Capital.

Lawyers are also targeting the creditors, with firm Financial Dispute Legal claiming it would “ get the justice and compensation you deserve”.

A Grant Thornton spokeswoman said liquidators were “not in communication” with Financial Dispute Legal.

“Any proceedings need to be done via the Liquidators,” she said.

“Regarding “Blackchess Investment”: We cannot comment on it at this stage as it is subject to investigations.”

At its peak the Oli Capital group of companies included businesses purporting to be investing in gold, finance, film, energy, hydrogen, trade, and tourism.

Among its investments, Oli Capital shopped a potential investment into collapsed neobank Volt to investors, with a number visiting the bank’s Sydney offices in June 2019.

Investors were told Volt would list on the ASX in mid-2020 and deliver $234m in net profits by 2028, but the neobank collapsed in January 2022 after it failed to secure a $200m series F funding round.