Mayfair 101 boss James Mawhinney launches platform to give the aggrieved redress

The latest venture of Mayfair 101 boss James Mawhinney is, says the one-time banned businessman, an opportunity to respond to media or documents online.

James Mawhinney at addresses an Ad Week DC conference in Washington.

The latest media venture of Mayfair 101 boss James Mawhinney is pitched by the corporate regulator’s bugbear and one-time banned businessman as an opportunity to recoup losses from his failed Queensland tourism venture.

In a midnight launch in New York on Wednesday, Mr Mawhinney kickstarted his reputation management and communications platform media.com.

The platform will allow users to directly commentate on media or documents, with Mr Mawhinney noting this offered a chance to correct the record.

His experience of fighting liquidators, courts and the corporate regulator over Mayfair 101 and its investment scheme showed the need for a platform to respond to media reporting, he said.

“As we say on our website – publish your truth,” he said.

The web platform will offer six different options to users to publish statements, including commenting on articles or publishing press releases, in what Mr Mawhinney said would function “a bit like a newswire service”.

“You’ve got about 15 different options you can choose from and you can upload supporting documentation,” he said.

“If you’re in a dispute with your neighbour or your council you can upload the letter to make sure your text matches the snippets you put in.”

Mr Mawhinney said he was conscious of potential copyright disputes that could arise, noting media.com was already in discussions with US and British publications over licensing.

“There are a couple of associations that represent publications in the US and Australia we’re intending to negotiate with,” he said.

The latest play by Mr Mawhinney comes as the businessman shapes up for his latest bruising battle with the Australian Securities & Investments Commission.

ASIC has pursued Mr Mawhinney over his Mission Beach investment scheme, which saw companies he controlled raise almost $211m through a variety of loan and fixed-income note schemes.

Mr Mawhinney is currently banned from soliciting or receiving funds in connection with any financial product or advertising any financial product under an interim injunction against him, after the Federal Court remitted earlier findings against him for appeal.

A judge originally fined Mr Mawhinney $30m and imposed permanent restraints on advertising and promoting financial products, but the full Federal Court remitted the case, finding the restraints were “too broad and unworkable”.

However, Mr Mawhinney’s attempt to appeal the $30m fine to the High Court was unsuccessful.

ASIC claims Mr Mawhinney, who denies any wrongdoing, marketed high-risk products as low-risk to almost 500 people who invested in the Mayfair 101 group.

ASIC and Mr Mawhinney have traded legal actions, with the appeal against his ban set to dominate several other cases before the courts.

Mr Mawhinney has also taken action against ASIC deputy chair Sarah Court over several lines in a press release, as well as issuing legal warnings to fellow deputy chair Karen Chester.

However, Mr Mawhinney’s action against Ms Court has been suspended, pending the outcome of the appeal.

He is also taking action against the lender CEG Direct Securities, along with the former neighbour of his Melbourne home, Rachel Willson.

Mr Mawhinney claims CEG Direct Securities sold his Park Orchards home for $1m less than its market value, while Ms Willson allegedly took personal items belonging to the Mayfair 101 boss.

The launch of media.com comes after almost a year of travel to Europe and North America by Mr Mawhinney to raise investor interest in the platform. The backers of media.com are different to Mr Mawhinney’s earlier Mayfair 101 backers.

The Mayfair boss said he was confident of the success of the platform, which would be offered on a freemium model, with limited free use followed by a $US30 per month subscription fee.

Mr Mawhinney said users from 130 countries had pre-registered their interest in joining the platform.

Mr Mawhinney said media.com was about “ultimately linking this back to what I’m trying to achieve for the Mayfair group”.

“This could provide a pathway home for all the lenders who were victims of this debacle over the years,” he said. Mr Mawhinney, on the website of his Singapore-based holding company, has made a “Mayfair Pledge” to investors in the group, noting a “percentage of revenues from Kismet’s various initiatives will be dedicated to Mayfair’s financiers as they are the innocent victims of a most unfortunate and avoidable situation”.

Several Mayfair investors watched Mr Mawhinney’s appeal in the Federal Court last year, with Mayfair going to lengths to continue to contact those who put money into the company’s note schemes.

Mayfair issues almost monthly updates to investors and hired a member of staff solely to deal with communications to note holders.