Call it the first casualty of the money fight between Melbourne billionaire Heloise Prattand her estranged former husbandAlex Waislitz.
Loyal Pratt family lieutenant Tony Gray – torn between both sides – has decided to cease his years of consulting work to Waislitz, a long-time client, amid the escalating family drama spilling between him (Waislitz) and the Pratts in the NSW Supreme Court.
As revealed in these pages last week, Heloise launched a surprise, pre-emptive legal action against her ex, accusing him of criminality and dishonest conduct in the administration of their jointly-owned entity, Thorney Investments. The greater play in this litigation is a fight for control over the $1.3bn stock-owning empire.
Being a consigliere to both families clearly made Gray’s position a little untenable, which is probably why he took Waislitz aside last week and broke the news that he would no longer be able to represent him.
And it couldn’t have been an easy conversation, either, given their 15 years of uninterrupted work. Gray wouldn’t comment when contacted, but we hear he’s staying on Pratt’s payroll.
Back to his roots, it seems, with this decision. He started out in 1991 as a schlepper and speech writer for Visy founder Richard Pratt, a position that later expanded to include strategic advice and a stint on Visy’s executive committee. He even shared an office with the patriarch himself, later launching his own consulting firm in 2009 after Richard died and son Anthony returned to Australia to take over as executive chairman.
Gray’s first client? Alex Waislitz, who at the time was happily married to Heloise. No issues advising all sides, either – even after the marriage ended in 2015.
But pretending that all was going to be milk and honey once news of the Supreme Court action broke, well, that was never going to be possible.
Troubled times
The very – very – short relationship between financial adviser Anthony Bell and Nomad Group owner Rebecca Yazbek – wife of Alan Yazbek, a former co-owner of the business and lately a purveyor of much unfiltered antisemitic claptrap – has come to an end.
In a bid to sever professional ties with her husband, Rebecca turned to Bell Partners to restructure the business and basically get him out.
And the work of the accountants seems to be over now – and that, too, spells the end of Bell’s financial engagement with Nomad. Or so we were told by Yazbek herself, via crisis managers at Wilkinson Butler, some days ago.
“Thank you to Anthony Bell who has completed his work and I am reviewing the final documents with my advisers,” she said. “I can now move on to the next phase of restructuring my company. I am faced with the massive task of integrating two full-time jobs into one, mine.”
And for the removal of any doubt, we’re led to believe that’s the end of their association.
Advice firecrackers
Who knew financial advisers, so proudly boring, could be so feisty? Or that Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones (also proudly boring) had the ticker to bite back?
Jones was the guest speaker at an event hosted on Tuesday night by the acronym-resistant Association of Independently Owned Financial Professionals, led by executive director Peter Johnston. Even their name is annoying.
The minister’s speech – heavy on concept, light on detail, substantially shorter than that of his Coalition shadow, Luke Howarth – clearly agitated some in the audience. The advice industry’s already being up-ended with reform, so its people regard Jones with a bit of a curled lip at the moment.
Anyway, Jones was walking off stage when someone yelled out, “What have you done for us?” which the minister shrugged off without incident.
Under that cover, a fellow goader then shouted “coward!” at the minister, which jolted him back to the stage. “I’m not copping that,” he said, before launching into an impassioned defence of his record. Bottle that speech, somehow, and we’re sure it would be just as powerful as chloroform.
So, we asked Jones about being called a coward and he responded in good humour.
“Always a robust exchange with my friends at the AOIFP. Enjoyed it immensely. Lots of good feedback,” he texted us.
And the spirited defence? Jones reckons that he laid out “exactly what I’d done – including ensuring a significant number of the people in the room could continue to practice as licensed advisers”.
So be grateful, y’hear?
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