AFL Ponzi scheme boss ‘hid $5m holiday house asset’

The architect of a $100 million Ponzi scheme that ensnared high profile AFL figures died without any assets in his own name.

The Big Hill property. Picture: Supplied

The architect of a $100 million Ponzi scheme that ensnared high profile AFL figures died without any assets in his own name, sparking claims he deliberately hid his cash.

Victims have now filed action in the Victorian Supreme Court to claw back millions invested in John Bernard Adams’ decades-long rip off.

But it’s unlikely they will see a cent from the suburban solicitor’s “mortgage investment scheme” run out of AMS Law in Ivanhoe in Melbourne’s north.

Adams died at a $5 million beach house in Lorne his family had owned since the 1980s but that property was not his name, his business partner Shane Maguire said.

“There’s no assets in his name, I don’t even think there was a bank account, it was all done through a family trust,” Mr Maguire said.

“He must have been planning this for some time.”

John Bernard Adams had a holiday home at Big Hill on the Great Ocean Road, pictured above, but it was not his name when he died.

A search of the Supreme Court of Victoria’s probate office last week revealed that no application has been made in relation to settling Adams’ will.

It comes as a snooker club in Melbourne that lost $2 million in the “mortgage scheme” has sued Mr Maguire and another former partner at the now defunct AMS law firm, Vincent Sier, along with an auditor.

Mr Maguire, who was cleared by the Victorian Legal Services Board in February that found he knew nothing about the scheme, declined to comment on the latest court action.

The Brunswick Club, at 203 Sydney Road, in Melbourne’s trendy inner north has lodged papers in the Supreme Court seeking $2 million it invested in Adams’ scheme.

The club has accused Mr Maguire and Mr Sier of “misleading and deceptive” conduct, according to court documents.

John Bernard Adams.

Shane Maguire. Source – LinkedIn

The club made 14 deposits into the scheme between 2010 and 2021, totalling $2 million on which it received interest payments of up to eight per cent.

But the money vanished in October last year after Adams died leaving the scheme he started in 2004 broke.

The club claims that Mr Maguire and Mr Sier “knew or ought to have known that the 2004 scheme could not operate for so long as it was unlawful to do so.”

The Brunswick Club based at 203 Sydney Road Brunswick Victoria. Supplied

They were also accused of breaching their “duty of care” and failing to provide “safeguards” for the club’s money.

Adams was a prominent identity in racing and AFL circles, with the Victorian Bookmakers Association and former Carlton president Ian Collins losing money in the scheme.

Mr Collins had to go to court to get the titles back on his properties, which Adams had used to set up fake mortgages.

Carlton Football Club president Ian Collins in 2006.

Adams was never suspected of any wrongdoing while alive, with former friends saying they were shocked as he was a weekly churchgoer.

He was survived by his wife, who lives in a modest home in Melbourne’s inner eastern suburbs, and children.

The Brunswick Club, which made $1.3 million from its 43 pokie machines in 2022/2023, did not return calls. The Victorian Legal Services Board and Commissioner said in a statement that it was investigating the law firm.

“Funds invested into the Loan Business do not appear to have the characteristics of trust money because they were not provided in the course of legal practice and were instead provided for the purpose of investment and/or mortgage financing services,” it said.

“Investors in the Loan Business and others who believe they may have suffered a loss are strongly encouraged to obtain independent legal advice in relation to their situation.”

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Originally published as AFL Ponzi scheme boss ‘hid $5m holiday house asset’