DN Holdings’ The Captain Davo suing The Grass is Greener festival founders Oliver Fines-Frost, Johnny Eddings over $1.25m loan
A $1.25m loan from a South Australian entrepreneur and influencer, secured in the dying weeks before Oli Frost and Johnny Eddings’ The Grass is Greener music festival lurched into voluntary administration, has come back to haunt the pair.
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A $1.25m loan from a South Australian entrepreneur and influencer, secured in the dying weeks before Oli Frost and Johnny Eddings’ The Grass is Greener music festival lurched into voluntary administration, has come back to haunt the pair.
Gold Coast entrepreneur Oliver Fines-Frost and his business partner Johnny Eddings, along with five of their companies, are being sued in a debt recovery claim filed in the Brisbane Supreme Court in September 2024 by DN Holdings, which lists its sole director and shareholder as David Nicholas.
They are defending the claim, which their lawyer said was “wholly denied” by his clients.
Mr Nicholas aka “The Captain Davo”, from Adelaide, shot to fame online as a high-stakes gambler before branching out as an entrepreneur and investor.
He has almost 800,000 followers across various social media platforms.
In a statement of claim filed with the court, DN Holdings is seeking to recover a $1.25m loan to Hand Picked Events and Marketing – the company behind the failed music festival The Grass is Greener.
The loan was allegedly guaranteed by Mr Frost, Mr Eddings, and their companies.
The companies behind Maman Bar and Kitchen, Milky Lane Surfers Paradise, Lucia Tapas Garden and Naami, all went into administration in June.
The administration is being challenged in separate legal action in the Supreme Court.
Lawyer for the pair, Jarred Winterkorn, told the Gold Coast Bulletin on Friday that an application had been filed by his clients “to terminate the purported administration, and for related relief”.
He said the basis of the application was an “apparent absence of independence of the administrators” and that “the administration is an abuse of process”.
Mr Winterkorn said his clients were confident they would be successful in fighting DN Holdings’ claim.
In its claim, DN Holdings is also seeking an order from the court that unless payment of the $1.25m together with appropriate interest and costs is made in full, the pair and their companies are to provide a list of all related businesses in which they hold any beneficial interest, as well as their related financials and personal tax returns from 2022, 2023, and 2024.
Also in the event the $1.25m is not paid in full, DN Holdings is seeking the profits from the sale of a home in Trinity Park, Cairns, which is jointly owned by Mr Frost and Mr Eddings.
The claim alleges that in or about September 2022, Mr Nicholas was introduced to Mr Frost and Mr Eddings through a mutual contact, Jade Mulholland, because Hand Picked Events and Marketing Pty Ltd was seeking a loan to address cash flow issues.
Mr Muholland is not party to this proceedings.
It’s claimed that by exchange of emails between October 6 and October 11, 2022, DN Holdings entered into a written agreement with Handpicked Events and Marketing to provide it with a loan of $500,000.
But accounts of how the loan came about differ greatly between DN Holdings’ claim and Mr Frost and Mr Eddings’ defence.
The pair have denied or disputed most of the allegations made by DN Holdings and deny they are personally liable for repaying the $1.25m.
The terms of the agreement stipulated that $200,000 was to be paid back after the completion of an event operated by the company in November 2022 and the further $300,000 was due after the completion of another event in 2023.
The pair in court documents claim that in addition to the initial loan agreement, DN Holdings would receive 25 per cent equity in The Grass is Greener while Mr Mulholland would receive five per cent.
It’s alleged the initial loan was then amended by mutual agreement on or about October 20, 2022, with advance of a further $751,000.
The loan was to be repaid by Mr Frost and Mr Eddings through the net profits of selling Milky Lane Surfers Paradise and Lucia Tapas Garden, by the end of December 2023, DN Holdings’ claim alleged.
DN Holdings was also to receive net profits from all other events operated by Hand Picked Marketing and Events until the $1.25m was repaid, it’s claimed.
According to court documents, other conditions were that Mr Frost and Mr Eddings were to personally guarantee the loan, and that DN Holdings was to take security over the restaurant businesses of Maman Bar and Kitchen, Milky Lane Surfers Paradise, Lucia Tapas Garden and Naami.
In their defence, Mr Frost and Mr Eddings said severe weather storms hit Australia between October 6 and October 20, 2022, and that Hand Picked Events and Marketing was forced to cancel several music festivals, causing further financial distress to the company.
Because of this, the financial distress of Hand Picked Events and Marketing was so significant “that it was facing serious solvency issues, which the plaintiff and Mr Mulholland were aware of”, their defence stated.
They were sent an email on October 20 by Mr Mulholland setting out the “purported terms” of the second loan.
Their defence claims they told Mr Nicholas and Mr Mulholland they needed additional time to consider the terms of the second loan and were not willing or comfortable with signing any personal guarantee document.
The pair also claim that in December 2022, it was agreed they would not offer any security for the first loan, and no interest would be payable by them under the first loan.
Mr Nicholas’ claim alleges Mr Frost, Mr Eddings, and Mr Frost’s Project Opulence Pty Ltd entered into written guarantees and security deeds with DN Holdings in December 2022, and the companies behind their restaurant businesses did the same in August 2023.
Mr Frost and Mr Eddings allege they were “vulnerable” at the time the second loan was put to them and were “placed under significant pressure to enter into the second loan” by DN Holdings.
“(They) did not understand the true nature and effect of the purported terms of the second loan”, “did not understand the true nature and effect of the security … concerning the second loan” and “were not reasonably able to protect their own interests in the transaction”.
When it came to signing the security documents concerning the first and second loans in December 2022, Mr Frost and Mr Eddings allege that when they asked for more time to consider the security agreements and obtain legal advice, Mr Nicholas and Mr Mulholland requested they sign the documents.
By this stage Hand Picked Events and Marketing was in voluntary administration.
The pair further alleged in their filed defence that further security guarantees entered into by the companies in August 2023 were executed after Mr Mulholland made threats towards Mr Eddings and Mr Frost, including “adverse steps that (Mr Nicholas) would take … if (Mr Frost) did not sell his shares held in a separate company to this proceeding”.
They claim they signed the security documents “without obtaining independent legal and/or financial advice” and despite Hand Picked Events and Marketing being in voluntary administration in December 2022 and liquidation in August 2023.
Mr Frost and Mr Eddings claim Mr Nicholas’ conduct surrounding the signing of the security documents “amounts to unconscionable conduct” and that the transactions had been “induced by undue influence on the part of the plaintiff”.
Alternatively, they claim it would be unfair and unjust to enforce the security documents.
The pair also claim the security documents were poorly drafted and ambiguous and therefore not valid or enforceable.
A June 2024 demand to repay the $1.25m debt was not met, putting the pair and their companies in breach of the guarantee and security deed, DN Holdings’ claim alleged.
The matter remains before the courts.
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Originally published as DN Holdings’ The Captain Davo suing The Grass is Greener festival founders Oliver Fines-Frost, Johnny Eddings over $1.25m loan
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