Marginata Securities’ $800-an-hour late fee revealed in liquidation case

Sydneysiders who borrowed from Marginata Securities faced an unusual penalty for late payment.

Sydneysiders who borrowed from Marginata Securities faced an unusual penalty for late payment: a charge of $800 an hour plus GST to have their debt chased by convicted fraudster Sam Cassaniti.

This frightening fine print emerged during a liquidator’s public examination in the Federal Court this week – an investigation set to get even spicier next week.

According to a related judgment published earlier this month, liquidator Peter Krejci accuses Cassaniti of being a “shadow director” of five failed companies which were “in alleged schemes for the avoidance of tax”. Many millions of it.

In her judgment, Justice Elizabeth Cheeseman dismissed bids by Cassaniti and others to punt Krejci as liquidator and also to set aside asset-freezing orders.

The judgment affects a yet-to-be-determined case that Krejci, of BRI Ferrier, has brought against 26 defendants, including Cassaniti and his wife Thi Linh Trinh.

Convicted Sydney fraudster Sam Cassaniti and his wife Thi Linh Trinh at their 2023 wedding in Vietnam. Picture: HD Media's YouTube channel

The asset-freezing orders apply to Cassaniti, Ms Trinh and other defendants.

Trinh is the sole director and shareholder of Sydney lending business Marginata – one of the entities of which Cassaniti is accused of being a shadow director.

None of the claims against Cassaniti, Trinh and the other defendants has been proven. All are being vigorously defended.

The lawyer for some of the failed companies, Raphael Grossman of McEvoy Legal, was quizzed about Marginata’s lending contracts in this week’s public examination.

Grossman was asked by Krejci’s barrister Michael Rose whether he was aware Cassaniti was convicted of 23 criminal charges in 2005.

Grossman, who is not accused of any wrongdoing, replied: “I was aware he had been convicted.”

Cassaniti went to jail for more than two years for tax fraud offences.

Rose then asked Grossman about a clause in Marginata’s loan documents, which said borrowers in breach of their deed terms faced charges of $800 an hour plus GST to cover Cassaniti seeking payment.

Rose put it to Grossman that Marginata charged its customers to have Cassaniti “chasing them for money. That’s what this clause means?”

“Yes,” Grossman replied.

DRAG IS ‘JUST NOT THE SAME’

Drag isn’t what it used to be, and Aussie musical theatre legend Trevor Ashley says societal changes are to blame.

Once the heart of Sydney’s drag scene, Kings Cross has drastically changed, with Ashley – who’s been in the performance game for more than 25 years – blaming social media and TV series such as RuPaul’s Drag Race.

“I think what used to be the avenue to become a drag performer here in Sydney has really changed,” Ashley told Confidential.

“You’d go and do some amateur nights, hopefully start to get a gig or two and then work up to production shows, and there’s not many here in town any more.”

Australian musical theatre actor and drag queen Trevor Ashley is preforming in the musical Moulin Scrooge. Picture: Thomas Lisson

Ashley was runner-up on rival reality drag TV show, Queen of the Universe. The 45-year-old kicked off his career performing in pubs.

“It’s disappointing when queens don’t put in the work,” Ashley said.

“Drag Race has both elevated and ruined drag in equal measure. Suddenly the kids just think they can go on that TV show and not have to put in the hard yards.

“It’s about the art of getting in front of an audience and actually entertaining a crowd.”

Though Ashley has relocated to London to perform in the West End, he’s back in Sydney starring in Moulin Scrooge, an adults-only panto running from March 26 to April 5.

“It’s bittersweet coming home,” he said. “London has so much theatre and new shows almost every day … but I think Sydney still has a great drag scene.

“I did this show for the first time in 2022 and it’s a love letter to Kings Cross because it’s about the gentrification of an area that used to be a night life and sex work.”

CURTIS STONE’S SON IN CHARITY PERFORMANCE

Curtis Stone’s 13-year-old son is following in his famous dad’s celebrity footsteps.

Hudson Stone has taken to the stage at Rose Bowl Stadium in LA to do his bit to raise funds after the devastating fires that smashed the city earlier this year.

Playing guitar, he sung City Of Angels, a track he was inspired to write at the time.

It was part of a charity event that included a live auction and communal dinner prepared by Hollywood’s top chefs that has raised more than $1.57 million.

Curtis Stone with son Hudson at LA’s Rose Bowl Stadium. Picture: Instagram

“My family and I spent those weeks evacuated not knowing night after night when we went to sleep if we would have a home in the morning,” Hudson told guests.

“It’s a lot to try to wrap your brain around as a kid.

“We are one of the lucky ones who were able to go home, thanks to the amazing firefighters.

“So many of my friends lost everything – their schools, our rec centre, our beaches, everything.

“But even though there is so much sadness, I could not help but notice a new kind of love and connection happening all around me, like nothing I’ve seen before. I see the hope.”

Hudson is the eldest of two children to Curtis and actor wife Lindsay Price.

“I honestly couldn’t tell you the reaction of the crowd as my eyes were full of tears but it sounded awesome to me,” Curtis told Confidential.

HARD MAN’S SOFT SIDE

In between overseeing a bikie gang and being targeted by police, it seems Comanchero boss Allan Meehan has still found time to celebrate love.

Allan Meehan has been spotted down on one knee, proposing to his wife of a decade. Picture: Supplied

This photo was sent through to The Daily Telegraph this week showing Meehan down on one knee proposing to his wife Elise in Brisbane.

The Comanchero heavyweight is believed to have been married for more than a decade, and we can only assume his reproposal is seemingly set to be part of a renewal of the couple’s wedding vows.

KAMBALA STUDENTS HAD A SCORE TO SETTLE

The annual Sydney Opera House musical showcase of one of Sydney’s wealthiest girls’ schools was preceded by a far less refined affair last weekend when an altercation broke out between students and parents on the forecourt.

Guests of the $49,000 per-year eastern suburbs institution Kambala’s “festival of music” witnessed a very different show when, in the minutes before the school’s four orchestral ensembles took to the stage, a group of young musicians began hurling profane insults.

The incident is believed to have played out over which girls were or were not included in a group selfie.

A Kambala spokeswoman said the school was “working through” the incident.

BATTLE SCARS, BUT DON’T MENTION THE WAR

Every relationship has its own problems, but Liberal Leader Mark Speakman and Nationals Leader Dugald Saunders have taken the notion of playing “happy families” in public while bickering behind closed doors to new heights.

Tensions between the two Coalition partners were stretched almost to breaking point over last weekend’s Port Macquarie by-election, in which the Liberal candidate Robert Dwyer claimed victory over the Nationals’ Sean Gleeson.

Leader of the Nationals Dugald Saunders. Picture: Damian Shaw

The successful Dwyer came to parliament on Tuesday for a victory lap, greeted with a “rock star reception” during the regular weekly meeting of Liberal MPs, according to those present.

Tuesday’s party room meetings involve the Libs and Nats first sitting down in separate rooms before coming together for what is supposed to be a “joint party” love-in.

But with the Libs’ meeting running over time, when it was time for Dwyer to leave the Nats were already waiting around outside.

He ended up having to face a “vipers’ nest,” we’re told, walking through a phalanx of pollies who he had spent the past few weeks fighting.

Awks.

Inside the joint Coalition party room, it was a case of “don’t mention the war,” as both Speakman and Saunders tried to move on from a bruising marital spat.

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Originally published as Marginata Securities’ $800-an-hour late fee revealed in liquidation case