Apricity Finance boss Linden Toll arrested on fraud charges

Apricity Finance managing director Linden Toll has been charged with several criminal offences following the collapse of his firm last year which left creditors owed more than $50m.

Apricity Finance founder and managing director Linden Toll.

Linden Toll, the managing director of Apricity Finance which collapsed a year ago with debts of more than $50m, has been charged with several criminal offences relating to an “alleged multimillion-dollar fraud’’.

New South Wales Police last week extradited Mr Toll, 55, from Queensland, having been granted an arrest warrant on March 13.

“Detectives attached to The Hume Police District initiated an investigation into the alleged multimillion-dollar fraud relating to loans and investment companies in the Southern Highlands between 2013 and 2023,’’ NSW Police said in a statement.

Mr Toll was last week charged with three counts of publishing fake or misleading material to obtain an advantage, three counts of an officer publishing a false or misleading statement to deceive, dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception and knowingly dealing with the proceeds of crime.

Bowral-based Apricity was an invoice-financing company which was founded in 2013 by Mr Toll, and backed by a number of high net worth investors and boutique investment vehicles.

The company collapsed in April last year and investigations carried out by the company’s liquidator Darren Vardy indicated that it never traded at a profit and was likely insolvent for its entire existence.

Mr Toll was made bankrupt soon after the company collapsed and has been uncontactable.

Mr Vardy calculated that the company had $53.4m in debts at the time of its collapse and $292,164 in assets.

Mr Vardy said in a report to creditors last year that they should not expect any payment in relation to the debts owed to them.

“Creditors should note that there are significant priority claims that would receive the benefit of any recoveries in the first instance,’’ he said.

“Any surplus that would be available for unsecured creditors would be minimal at best. You should write off your debt if you have not already done so.

Creditors include Peter Guy, one of the founding directors of Jana Investment advisers, whose family is owed about $14m according to records. Mr Guy is no longer with Jana.

Apricity’s business involved providing invoice financing for companies, which allows them to better manage cash flow by getting early payment of debts.

“Apricity assists businesses that supply to large customers,’’ Mr Toll’s LinkedIn account says.

“These customers include listed companies, government and civic institutions, as well as large institutions and private companies.’’

Apricity would provide businesses with up to 95 per cent of the face value of an invoice, then collect the full debt later and take a commission.

Sources have told The Australian in the past that Mr Toll called an all-hands meeting of the group, which also operated a company called Apricity Transasia Finance, in the days before both were placed in administration, but failed to attend.

Shartru Capital, a related entity of Apricity, was also placed in liquidation last year.

Mr Toll will face court again in May.

Originally published as Apricity Finance boss Linden Toll arrested on fraud charges