PwC and global law firm Sidley Austin have been added to the list of creditors seeking payment from Scale Facilitation and its chief scoundrel David Collard. Does that designation seem unkind? Just remember that staff wages remain unpaid and his companies are being probed by the Fair Work Commission, chased by the tax office, and Collard himself is being sized-up by Federal Police. A legal action filed in the Victorian Supreme Court last week is seeking to wind up one of his companies, SaniteX, and have a liquidator appointed. There’s talk, too, that staff and friends are waiting on cash loans to be repaid, having effectively bankrolled his activities for months.
Margin Call reported on Friday that Collard is understood to owe $7m to Australia-based staff and creditors, but that’s just the start of his troubles. Word is there’s another $US3.8m owed to employees in the US and substantial sums yet to be paid to Sidley Austin and PwC, this latter having provided Scale with much tax advice over the past year.
This includes Collard’s pursuit of about $60m in credit funding from the Albanese government, for R&D equipment that may or may not have been purchased. At one point, with a cash refund knocked back, Collard told colleagues: “Some activities rejected but PwC going to challenge them.” Not sure how that one worked out.
Obviously the consulting firm has bigger fish to fry this week with the release of Ziggy Switkowski’s report into its governance and culture, tentatively due to hit sunlight on Wednesday. A spokesman declined to comment on the matter with Scale, but it would seem all further services to the company have ceased.
James Packer’s Beverly Hills pad yours for $US85m
James Packer offloaded his private jet last year with a view to catching charter flights instead, a move the billionaire said was necessary to “try get my costs down”. The sale of the plane brought in a few quid, so then he toyed with putting his superyacht I.J.E on the market, listing the boat and then hastily withdrawing, tortured as he was, or so it seemed, by the thought of losing it. This explains why I.J.E has been on a heavy cruising schedule ever since, even sailing the Aegean Sea en route to Hydra last week, with “Goose” and “Cougar” faithfully in tow.
But now another asset looks to be up for the chop, according to The Wall Street Journal, which reported that Packer’s Beverly Hills mansion is available for an asking price of $US85m. That’s a respectable margin on the $US65m that he paid for the pad in 2018 – still a mere fraction of the billions earned from the sale of his shareholding in Crown Resorts.
This is no ordinary mansion, of course. Built in the 1930s, it was owned for two decades by Batman supervillain Danny DeVito and wife Rhea Perlman before they sold in 2015. Packer was said to have jumped on the property so he could have a place to crash closer to his children, who lived in California with ex-wife Erica. No point keeping it now that she and the kids have moved to London.
As for the interiors, it’s not the Winter Palace but at 12 bedrooms it’s certainly spacious. The usual wine cellar, screening room and cigar lounge are there, of course, with Packer having dumped a fair amount of coin on refurbishments. There’s also an eight-car garage, gym and a beauty salon. Because who doesn’t love a mani-pedi?
Recent tenants included Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck, the latter famed for lots of things – his films, of course, but also the ‘‘Sad Affleck’’ meme and that stroppy moment with philosopher Sam Harris. In May the couple purchased their own place in a gated community nearby.
Amicable separation
Speaking of billionaires, Andrew Forrest and wife Nicola ended their three-decade marriage in July, telling shareholders that Fortescue’s operations would be unimpacted, the friendship between them also remaining intact.
Oft-stated but usually rubbish, the Forrests appear to have been genuine in their assurances. They were spotted together in France mere days ago during the Rugby World Cup. Margin Call understands they took in a Wallabies game before Twiggy embarked on a series of investor meetings that ended in New York City.
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