Pub baron Jon Adgemis funded lavish lifestyle with company cash, report claims

From Porsches to a 95-foot yacht, a new bankruptcy report reveals how Jon Adgemis funnelled money from his pub empire to pay off credit cards and bankroll a luxury lifestyle.

The report notes Adgemis transferred “often large dollar value” cash injections to a company called The Yacht, which owned his former 95-foot yacht Hiilani.

Failed pub baron Jon Adgemis funded his lavish lifestyle with credit cards and used money flowing from his former hospitality empire to sustain his extravagance, a bankruptcy report has claimed.

The new report into Mr Adgemis, who at his peak controlled an empire of 22 pubs and hotels across Sydney and Melbourne and left $1.8bn of debt in his wake, details a complex web of companies and cars connected to the businessman.

The entrepreneur disclosed that he expects to earn $490,000 a year working for a mystery employer.

Mr Adgemis was bankrupted two months ago, after the Australian Taxation Office hijacked his own insolvency attempt and installed a new trustee to oversee the process.

Jon Adgemis driving his Mercedes Benz AMG G63 this year. Picture: Liam Mendes / The Australian

The former Cranbrook boy and KPMG partner amassed vast debts to private credit lenders and banks as he tried to rival Justin Hemmes. He lost control of his remaining five pubs when one of those lenders, Deutsche Bank, acted to protect its interests.

The latest report prepared by Pitcher Partners partner Andrew Yeo also notes the existence of precious jewellery owned by the businessman, which had previously not been disclosed in WLP Restructuring’s diligence.

Pitcher Partners said it had collected several items of jewellery from Mr Adgemis, including a gold crucifix with his name on it from a safe deposit box jointly held with his mother Rose Adgemis.

The bankruptcy trustee said it will examine Mr Adgemis over his finances, and questioned what happened to several cars registered in his name including some disposed of in the lead up to his collapse.

Along with three documented cars seized, the report identifies that Mr Adgemis has owned and driven a further 10 cars. These include a 1958 Porsche 356A and a 1969 Mercedes 280SL.

The list also includes other Mercedes models, a 2014 Porsche, a Maserati, and an MG.

The bankruptcy trustee said it intends to find out what happened to several of the cars.

Mr Adgemis transferred frequent and “often large dollar value” cash to a company called The Yacht, which owned his former 95-foot yacht Hiilani, built for child movie star Shirley Temple in 1973.

More than $7m remains owed to CBA, despite the sale of the yacht in June.

CBA sources claimed the boat was damaged and required significant repairs prior to its sale.

Australian Financial Security Authority boss Tim Beresford has said the regulator was deeply unhappy with WLP trustees Scott Pascoe and Ben Ho over their handling of Mr Adgemis’ affairs.

In a failed deal offered to creditors, Mr Adgemis would have repaid them 0.15c in the dollar and his sister cough up $3m to avert bankruptcy.

Mr Adgemis has “exceedingly complex” financial affairs, and a full investigation “will take a significant amount of time and resources to complete”.

The report describes “a significant flow of money between entities within the group and a large volume of funds going into and out of bank accounts held in the name of (Adgemis)”.

Further, a significant amount of cash went to Mr Adgemis’ bank accounts from JAGA Securities, a key entity in the web of companies, to fund his lifestyle.

“This money was used by the bankrupt among other things to fund the bankrupt’s living expenses, including payment of significant credit card debts,” the report said.

In the report, Mr Yeo links Adgemis’ bankruptcy to the failure of his pubs ambition.

A bankruptcy report found Jon Adgemis ran up large tax bills with the ATO between 2020 and 2023. He is pictured with Peter Crinis who previously ran the hospitality side of the business. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Swift

Mr Yeo notes that while he has not formed a final view on the cause of Mr Adgemis’ bankruptcy, some of the loans which played a role in the businessman’s $1.8bn debts “appear uncommercial and the circumstances surrounding these loan agreements likely warrant further investigation by me”.

Mr Adgemis viewed his insolvency as “business related” and driven by “excessive interest payments on loan monies and capital losses on repayment. The business “hit a bottleneck in or around 2023 where it was completing multiple redevelopment projects simultaneously”.

This came after Mr Adgemis snapped up a string of pubs during the Covid-19 pandemic, including the Noah’s Backpackers site in Bondi for $68m. It has been put on the market.

But the Pitcher Partners report also notes a ballooning tax bill which ultimately triggered the ATO’s intervention to bankrupt the businessman.

The tax office raised the matter of a significant audit with Mr Adgemis’ companies in “late 2023”, warning several had questionable tax arrangements between 2020 to 2023. The ATO raided Mr Adgemis’ house and his company office.

“The audit found that input tax credit claims made by entities within the group were unsubstantiated, which resulted in the (Deputy Commissioner of Taxation) raising significant GST liabilities for multiple entities within the group,” the report claimed.

These total at least $161.9m in tax debts registered to Mr Adgemis.

But these may run beyond $300m with the allegations of GST fraud, which are disputed.

Mr Adgemis has previously denied all fraud allegations, telling The Australian in August they were “the subject of the group’s ongoing dealings with the ATO”. The Australian is not suggesting Mr Adgemis has committed fraud, only that concerns have been raised.

Originally published as Pub baron Jon Adgemis funded lavish lifestyle with company cash, report claims