By Max Mason and Kate McClymont
A former WiseTech Global employee is suing the software giant’s billionaire founder and his new wife over workplace issues months after the businessman settled a legal dispute with a former lover.
Caroline Heidemann’s Federal Court claim against Richard White, his wife Zena Nasser and the billionaire’s private investment vehicle came as WiseTech confirmed it was investigating two confidential complaints made by an employee and a supplier against the company’s founder.
WiseTech Global founder Richard White.Credit: Oscar Colman
As first revealed by The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Australian Financial Review, White is facing new allegations of inappropriate conduct and is yet to sign the 10-year consultancy agreement announced in October when he resigned as WiseTech’s chief executive.
WiseTech shares closed down 4.4 per cent on Monday after the report was published.
White resigned after this masthead reported he had bought a $7 million Melbourne waterfront property for employee and former partner Christine Kontos, paid $2 million to settle a dispute with another lover, and had been accused by a WiseTech director of intimidation.
WiseTech told investors in November that an investigation by law firms Herbert Smith Freehills and Seyfarth Shaw had cleared White of serious wrongdoing in preliminary findings on those allegations.
He was instead appointed founder and founding chief executive, reporting to the board and being paid $1 million a year. On Monday, WiseTech told investors the position was “created at the request” of White, but the terms were “still in the course of being agreed”.
Details of White’s private life were disclosed after he sued Linda Rogan, his former lover, over a $92,000 furniture bill. Rogan, a Sydney wellness entrepreneur who was billed as a potential Real Housewives of Sydney star, claimed she purchased the furniture at White’s behest for a $13.1 million Vaucluse mansion that he had bought for her to live in. The proceedings between White and Rogan were discontinued in October.
Rogan had alleged in court documents that White “expected” her to enter into a sexual relationship in 2022 in return for a promise to invest in another venture, Bionik Wellness, but the offer of financial backing did not materialise. Those claims were never tested in court.
Heidemann, a former WiseTech employee who later went on to work at White’s RealWise Management, is making an employment claim in the Federal Court alleging breaches of general protections. She has engaged KMD Law & Advisory, the same firm used by Rogan.
White is one of the richest people in Australia, according to estimates published by The Australian Financial Review Rich List. Most of his wealth is tied up in his 37.4 per cent stake in WiseTech, which is worth $16.5 billion.
In a statement on Sunday, White said he was “open, trusting, generous and, as a consequence, naive to how extreme wealth changes things”.
“I was certainly not prepared for the numerous attempts to extract money from me that I have received over the past five years from people from all walks of life (both male and female). I am now much more guarded, sceptical and prepared to defend myself against spurious claims,” he said.
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