Oli Capital bill nears $60m as the slow collapse of Chinese-Australian investment house is revealed

Documents reveal the inside story of Oli Capital’s tumble into liquidation as its boss remains in South Korea for ‘safety’ as creditors battle for almost $60m.

Boss of Oli Capital Luo Qi on Goulburn st Sydney .picture John Grainger

A relative of the boss of Oli Capital was left to stump up $100,000 to place the Chinese-Australian investment house into liquidation, almost two months after the company first explored its options, documents show.

A flurry of documents filed with the corporate regulator on Thursday night show the Oli Capital group was being pursued by creditors in at least mid-December, with almost 130 now filing claims against the investment house which spruiked to wealthy members of the Chinese-Australian business community.

A statement from the liquidators of the Oli Capital group of companies, including Oli Private Investment and Oli Funds Management, shows the business first started scoping out its options around December 19 after the firm’s lawyers referred chief executive Luo Qi to Grant Thornton.

Grant Thornton’s declaration of relevant relationships show liquidators again spoke with Mr Qi on December 20, outlining his options under administration or liquidation.

Liquidators again spoke to him on December 28, but the boss of Oli Capital returned incomplete documents on January 12, failing to place the investment house into receivership.

Grant Thornton was forced to contact him again on January 17 before Mr Qi finally completed the paperwork on February 9.

However, it fell to Libo Lui, a “relative of the director”, to pay Grant Thornton $100,000 upfront to cover the potential cost of winding up the three companies on the Oli Group after Mr Qi could not be found.

Accusations have been flying, with a letter Mr Qi claims is fake surfacing claiming he had left the country with creditors funds.

When Mr Qi was contacted by The Australian he told this publication the letter was fake and he was in South Korea “firstly for safety, and secondly to study and research the technology around hydrogen energy”.

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

He said he wanted to clarify the letter allegedly written by him was fake, “but it also contains partly truth”.

“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 said.

Oli Capital creditors have been chasing Mr Qi in a bid to track down as much as $60m in funds sunk in his sprawling investment business, which spruiked tourism, trade, hydrogen, gold, biotech, as well as equities options targeting wealthy members of the Chinese community.

Documents lodged with the corporate regulator shows the Oli Capital group was struggling under the weight of almost $60m in debts from almost 130 creditors with little to no cash to hand back.

Staff have not been seen at the firm’s offices since before Christmas, with landlords moving to turf out the firm in early February after it failed to pay rents.

At least 51 creditors have already hit Oli Capital with $9.83m in claims, including the Australian Taxation Office as well as the Hilton Hotel in Sydney for unpaid bills.

Grant Thornton liquidators report the business had just $89,248 in cash on hand, as well as $2.1m in outstanding invoices and bills owing to it, when it collapsed.

The bills from Oli Private Investment were far steeper, with liquidators reporting the business owes creditors at least $46.7m, with just $5.8m in cash on hand to repay debts.

Oli Funds Management creditors are claiming $2m.

However, questions have been raised over the fate of several other companies in the Oli Capital group.

Corporate records show a number of businesses offering products in gold, finance, film, energy, hydrogen, trade, tourism, and energy registered to Mr Qi.

“Lily”, one of Oli Capital’s former investors, first heard about the firm through Chinese media, with the firm offering 15 per cent returns and monthly dividends.

However, she found she was unable to withdraw funds from the firm just a month after first investing.

She said Oli Capital felt like “mind manipulations”.

“Some people had to sell their unsettled apartments. It‘s their hard-earned money,” she said.