Receipts reveal WeightLoss Solutions Australia funds paid into account for Lounge IV business

More than $140,000 from a flailing Gold Coast weight loss business was deposited into the bank account for a related IV therapy business, leaked documents have revealed.

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More than $140,000 from a flailing Gold Coast weight loss business was deposited into a bank account for a related IV therapy business, leaked documents have revealed.

Companies behind WeightLoss Solutions Australia, headed by Felicity Jane Cohen, 60, collapsed last year, leaving creditors more than $5m out of pocket.

Three of her companies - Bariatric Patient Management Australia, WLSA Pty Ltd and WLSA Investments - are in liquidation, while another four are in receivership.

WLSA facilitates bariatric surgeries and provides post-operative care from its headquarters at Varsity Lakes.

“Wellness warrior” Ms Cohen has stayed on as CEO of the WLSA business, which was sold in August to Dimitri Fedorov, an anaesthetist with Brisbane Obesity Surgery.

The Gold Coast Bulletin has seen numerous invoices, receipts and emails revealing WLSA clients were instructed to deposit funds into a bank account for Lounge IV, an IV therapy business also headed up by Ms Cohen.

The documents seen by the Bulletin indicate WLSA clients paid more than $140,000 into the Commonwealth Bank account for Lounge IV in the second half of last year, much of it on dates after the business changed hands.

Felicity Cohen Picture: Luke Marsden

The Bulletin has also seen emails from WLSA staff to Ms Cohen, confirming WLSA patient funds had been deposited to the Lounge IV account.

ASIC records show Ms Cohen is sole director of the company that launched Lounge IV and Wellness Clinic.

Responding on behalf of Ms Cohen, lawyer Daniel Wignall of McPherson Kelley said the deposits to the other business were “nothing out of the ordinary”.

“The arrangement you are referring to occurred in the ordinary course of the legitimate restructure and sale of WLSA,” he wrote.

“We are instructed that the liquidators approved this arrangement and were otherwise involved in the discussions leading to the implementation of it.”

Mr Wignall said “Ms Cohen has access to the account”.

“The funds were used, in part, to meet the expenses of the liquidation of BPMA and WLSA,” he said.

“The balance has been retained in the bank account. Any surplus will be returned to BPMA at the conclusion of the liquidation process.”

However, Steven Staatz of Vincents, liquidator of WLSA, said he had “no knowledge of the suggested arrangement”.

“Vincents is not aware of any such arrangement and at no stage gave its approval, nor participated in discussions regarding such an arrangement,” he said in a statement.

“We can confirm that Vincents has not received any funds from Lounge IV.”

Brisbane anaesthetist Dimitri Fedorov.

After the Bulletin’s contact with the liquidators, Mr Wignall said his previous statement had been incorrect.

“That response inadvertently contained a misstatement,” he wrote.

“We are instructed that the funds paid to Lounge IV were used to fund the liquidation of BPMA and not, as earlier stated, WLSA. There are no longer any funds remaining.

“We are further instructed that Ms Cohen did not have any direct communication with the liquidator of BPMA.”

Documents lodged by BPMA liquidator Matthew Bookless said he expected his total costs for the liquidation would be $28,000, and that Ms Cohen and Lounge IV had signed a guarantee to pay $20,000.

Mr Wignall’s clarification said the “liquidation had been the subject of lengthy discussion through professional restructuring advisors” so “our client believed the liquidator was aware of the funding arrangements for the liquidation”.

The Gold Coast Bulletin has contacted Dr Fedorov and Mr Bookless for comment on the Lounge IV deposits.

Weight Loss Solutions Australia headquarters at Varsity Lakes on October 17, 2024.

Staff and patients are among those who have claimed to be owed money in the collapse of Ms Cohen’s companies.

A report lodged by liquidator Mr Bookless said Ms Cohen “owes $1.98 million to the company in relation to a loan account” and had made no arrangement to pay it back. She has denied owing the money.

Staff of WLSA are owed more than $360,000 in unpaid superannuation and entitlements, with multiple former employees coming forward to talk about their struggles with the company.

Originally published as Receipts reveal WeightLoss Solutions Australia funds paid into account for Lounge IV business