Failed hospitality tycoon Jon Adgemis funded his luxury lifestyle with credit cards and money flowing through his collapsed pub empire, according to a new bankruptcy report detailing the businessman’s complex financial dealings and mounting debts.
Adgemis, once in control of 22 pubs and hotels across Sydney and Melbourne and now burdened with $1.8bn in debt, was bankrupted two months ago after the Australian Taxation Office seized control of his attempted insolvency and appointed a new trustee.
The report by Pitcher Partners partner Andrew Yeo outlines a web of companies, assets and vehicles tied to Adgemis.
It reveals he expects to earn $490,000 a year from an undisclosed employer and lists undisclosed precious jewellery, including a gold crucifix retrieved from a joint safe deposit box with his mother.
Trustees are investigating the fate of numerous luxury vehicles previously registered to Adgemis, including a 1958 Porsche 356A, 1969 Mercedes 280SL, several Mercedes models, a Porsche, Maserati and MG, many of which were disposed of before his financial collapse.
The report also notes frequent, large cash transfers to The Yacht, the company behind his former 95-foot vessel Hiilani, leaving more than $7m still owed to CBA after its sale.
According to the trustee, substantial funds flowed from JAGA Securities into Adgemis’ bank accounts to cover personal expenses and “significant credit card debts.”
The report links his downfall to failed ambitions to rival hospitality mogul Justin Hemmes, uncommercial loans, and the rapid acquisition of pubs during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The ATO’s intervention followed a major audit raising concerns about unsubstantiated input tax credit claims between 2020 and 2023, triggering at least $161.9m in tax liabilities, a figure the report says could exceed $300m with disputed GST fraud allegations.
Adgemis has denied all allegations of fraud, saying they remain part of his “ongoing dealings with the ATO.”
Source: The Advertiser.
