A horror share story

LynnH said:
Winding up the company will apparently not get the unitholders off the hook. Legal advice has confirmed that the liquidators would have the right to retrieve instalment payments due.
Click to expand...

Whose legal advice? Legal advice paid for by Brisconnect no doubt.... And are they prepared to show the full advice to the public including all assumptions? Whenever someone says to me "I have gotten legal advice to do X" my first response is "ok, show me your advice in writing" and then we can talk.

Strannik said:
if it's an australian company, director of it would still be liable, as he's clearly wasn't acting in the interest of company when buying them.

if it's an overseas company than it's a different story.
Click to expand...

Maybe Im missing something - on what basis do you say that? A director may be liable to shareholders of a company for breach of fiduciary duty - but to say that a director owes a fiduciary duty to creditors is probably stretching it too far. Or are you coming at it from another angle?
 
Incidentally I suspect there is an opportunity here for someone to dodgy up a Carribean shell company to take up shares by way off market transactions where current holders pay you 10 cents a share to take them off their hands. Make the directors and shareholders a Maltese trust and the unit holders of the Maltese trust a Ukrainian corporation with bearer shares. Good luck unwinding that one.
 
boomtown said:
A director may be liable to shareholders of a company for breach of fiduciary duty - but to say that a director owes a fiduciary duty to creditors is probably stretching it too far. Or are you coming at it from another angle?
Click to expand...

I would agree with you boomtown. How can a director be personally liable to company creditors for being stupid? I have read about directors committing blatant fraud and get away scott free. In the corporate world they would normally be given a million dollar goodbye to retire.
 
boomtown said:
Incidentally I suspect there is an opportunity here for someone to dodgy up a Carribean shell company to take up shares by way off market transactions where current holders pay you 10 cents a share to take them off their hands. Make the directors and shareholders a Maltese trust and the unit holders of the Maltese trust a Ukrainian corporation with bearer shares. Good luck unwinding that one.
Click to expand...

All ready suggested:p:D (great minds think alike)

http://www.somersoft.com/forums/showpost.php?p=494286&postcount=39

I read that Mr Bolton actually bought shares in a company name so as such really has no worries. Brisconnect may send his company bankrupt but at least his personal assets should be safe. (unless there all in the company that bought the shares - oops)

The bigger concern is for all those people who bought in their own names - D-day is approaching.

Cheers
 
No offence taken, boomtown! :) I didn't think for one minute that you were having a go at me! I posted in a bit of a hurry, so I'm sorry if it sounded like I was offended.

Cheers
Lynn
 
I dont think they'd need to unravel it. And I think you'd struggle gifting it to a vagrant, bankrupt etc.

I suspect they'd just wind it back and say you still have to pay. Otherwise people would be doing this al the time.
 
tubs said:
II suspect they'd just wind it back and say you still have to pay. Otherwise people would be doing this al the time.
Click to expand...

I suspect they cannot wind it back if the transfer occurs before the installment payment falls due. I would have thought its not a debt until 29 April 2009 or whatever the installment date is. Otherwise they could chase anyone who has ever appeared on the share register.

Btw this is a guess - not advice !
 
Last edited:
According to the article in The Age, Rowe said "Winding up the trusts will not remove the obligation on unit holders to pay the outstanding amounts on their units, including the next $1 installment that will be called on March 2, 2009"

I don't know if this is like an Ex-Dividend date and whoever holds the baby on that date has to pay but if that is the case they have to get busy as it is less than 2 weeks away.

http://business.theage.com.au/busin...round-a-question-of-trusts-20090218-8ajt.html
 
boomtown said:
Maybe Im missing something - on what basis do you say that? A director may be liable to shareholders of a company for breach of fiduciary duty - but to say that a director owes a fiduciary duty to creditors is probably stretching it too far. Or are you coming at it from another angle?
Click to expand...

He might not be financially liable with his personal assets, however he will be liable in a legal sense and open to criminal charges.

Have a read here: http://www.asic.gov.au/asic/asic.nsf/byheadline/Your+company+and+the+law?openDocument

What happens to dishonest directors?

Every year, the courts send dishonest and reckless company officers to prison, and impose heavy fines and award damages.

As the company watchdog, we investigate corporate crime. You can report dishonest company directors to us. We may take a number of steps against directors who fail in their duties.
Click to expand...
 
boomtown said:
Make the directors and shareholders a Maltese trust and the unit holders of the Maltese trust a Ukrainian corporation with bearer shares. Good luck unwinding that one.
Click to expand...

It takes ages to open a Ukrainian corporation, there is so much paperwork involved it's not funny. It takes about 1-3 month sometimes. It's very different from Australia. Plus you'll have to pay bribes too :)
 
I only buy shares in companies where directors and officers are buying bags of shares themselves with their own money
 
DrK said:
I only buy shares in companies where directors and officers are buying bags of shares themselves with their own money
Click to expand...

Ah, but you never know if it is their own money. MFS went belly up, the Directors owned MFS shares but they were put against margin loans (which should be totally illegal but the ASX are just useless). So late last year when lots of margin calls were made, so to were the Directors shares and a massive number were put on the market at once. MFS folded as a result.
 
Brisconections - the continuing saga.

Here is the latest update. The plot thickens.

INVESTORS in Brisbane's $4.8billion airport link project will get the chance to wind up the scheme next week after a court ruled in favour yesterday of dissident unit holder Nicholas Bolton.

The Victorian Supreme Court rejected the argument of BrisConnections, the toll-road builder, that Mr Bolton's company Australian Style was insolvent, and that the unit-holder meetings to consider a wind-up were called for an improper purpose, The Australian reported.
Click to expand...

Interesting about ASIC seeking an injunction to block the first installment payment.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

D
Release equity and buy facebook shares
2
Replies
39
Views
7K
hobo-jo
hobo-jo
M
Using an existing LOC (drawn) for buying shares - Deductability
Replies
3
Views
2K
myhillg
M
T
Share Trading
2 3 4
Replies
78
Views
12K
charlieandkath
C
The Y-man
The Micheal_X story
Replies
1
Views
6K
The Y-man
The Y-man
F
How to avoid paying $300,000 to $1 million dollars of mortgage interests to the bank:
2 3
Replies
51
Views
8K
skater
skater
Back
Top