Graham Richardson’s Townsville restaurant joint venture on the nose; Jeff Kennett’s convenient timing

Graham Richardson’s restaurant project has turned sour. Picture: John Feder

The legal bust-up between long-time allies Graham Richardson and former business partner Danny Meares – a figure of minor renown in the seafood trade – has deepened considerably with the emergence of fresh allegations against Meares of fraudulent activity.

The case itself revolves around the sale of their 2014 joint venture in a Townsville restaurant – the Watermark Bar and Grill – of which 90 per cent was owned by Meares and 10 per cent by Richardson, a Labor lobbyist and commentator in these very pages.

Notwithstanding a raft of grievances, including that the business was sold from under his nose and that he was never consulted on its operations, Richardson says he was also supposed to have received 10 per cent of the annual profits but hasn’t seen a dime since the inception of the business.

It was sold last year for $2.5m to Melbourne-based outfit Kickon Group.

The latest allegations, in documents tendered to the Federal Court, add a further dimension to Richardson’s grievances by claiming that Meares had spent years siphoning off cash to himself, his sons, and companies under his control.

The amounts listed include roughly $3.5m loaned directly to Meares since 2015 to pay off credit card debts, tax payments, directors fees, and the rent owed on three properties with no relation to the business.

Payments were also allegedly discovered for an NBN account, a Netflix account, for medical services to assist a family member, and gambling services noted in the documents as “Tatts/Lotto/Tab”.

Richardson’s joint-venture entity with Meares, known as Good Fortune Pty Ltd, allegedly advanced another $1.2m to a business called Tirami Pty Ltd, which lists Meares as its sole shareholder and director.

Amounts of $125,000 were allegedly loaned to his sons, Nathan and Ryan, and more than $108,563 was loaned to a business partner, Daniel Liu.

On Richardson’s account, these loans were not the subject of any written agreement and the outstanding interest remains unpaid. Meares’ lawyers have previously told the court that his agreement with Richo, a silent partner, was to include “full decision-making control” of the restaurant.

Meanwhile, Richardson’s lawyers say the Good Fortune entity still owes the Tax Office $1.6m in unpaid sums and penalties, as of May.

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The plonk flows on

Convenient timing for Jeff Kennett to be out of the country during the week of a seismic scandal involving the Hawthorn Football Club and its past treatment of First Nations players.

Kennett, the incumbent president, has been aboard Lindsay Fox’s shiraz-soaked 85th birthday cruise from New York to Montreal, and was noted by some to have been acting most unpresidential in his outspoken dislike and assessment of former coach Alistair Clarkson when news of the scandal broke.

Jeff Kennett. Picture: Getty Images

It was allegedly under Clarkson’s coaching leadership that some of the racism against indigenous players occurred, with he and several others linked to the scandal having already stood down from their roles in response.

Not Kennett, however, a past president at the club from 2005 to 2011. His successor has stood aside but he doesn’t appear to be going anywhere, at least before the club’s AGM in December – despite internal calls for him to do so. This, we remind readers, is the same Kennett who used to carry around a golliwog doll called Buddy, named after Swans hero Lance Franklin.

The cruise itself has been something of a booze bash, according to an account provided to Margin Call, featuring a vino-tasting event led by Penfolds’ chief winemaker, Peter Gago, among other sessions on the restoratives.

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Where’s Wally?

Followers of Christopher Joye, the founder of Coolabah Capital, may have noted a frisson of excitement emanating from his Twitter account over the weekend.

The portfolio manager and Financial Review columnist seemed to have been swept up in a wave of baseless rumours claiming a coup had deposed Chinese president Xi Jinping and placed him under house arrest.

So began many hours of Joye’s sleuthing for his nearly 20,000 followers: a great retweeting of accounts with dubious-sounding handles and minuscule followings; maps of aircraft traffic and an absence of planes flying through the Shandong and Tangshan provinces.

As of Monday not a single credible news outlet deemed fit to investigate the rumours, which was so clearly a product of mischief and conspiracy, although the Hindustan Times wrote a bit of click-bait on the hubbub itself.

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Knox lads run wild

In matters of substance abuse and PR disasters, admitting that one has a problem is the first step on the road to recovery. Mere weeks after furore engulfed Sydney boys’ school Knox Grammar, chaired by Simon Rothery, it appears the call has finally gone out to recruit a media and communications manager for an immediate start. Plainly, it didn’t come quickly enough.

Goldman Sachs boss Simon Rothery is chairman of beleaguered Sydney boys’ school Knox Grammar.

The school board recently had its feet held to the fire when it was revealed that some students – distinguishable by their fancy boaters – used messaging app Discord to disseminate child abuse material and other sewer-level nonsense that resulted in expulsions.

“Knox Grammar School seeks to be an exemplary school, developing, within a caring Christian environment, students of faith, wisdom, integrity, compassion and courage, with a sure knowledge of who they are and how they should live,” reads the job advertisement.

Rothery is CEO of Goldman Sachs Australia and a founding member of the Champions of Change Coalition, which bills itself as a movement to see men “stepping up beside women to listen, learn and lead action on gender equality”.

Not much hope of that while depraved expressions of love for Adolf Hitler and utter disdain for women are doing the rounds on and off the playground.

The Knox board includes deputy chair David Caspari, the boss of listed company Janison Education Group, which has seen a 70 per cent plummet in its share price since the start of the year, and Ashurst global chief Paul Jenkins.