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Lawyer behind dodgy scheme banned from managing companies
Dominique Grubisa, the Sydney solicitor hit with a $1 million penalty for promoting a “false and misleading” scheme, has been handed an 18-month ban from managing corporations.
Naomi Neilson
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) announced the disqualification almost two weeks after the Federal Court ordered Grubisa to pay a hefty fine for her role in promoting false or misleading promises to sell education programs.
By the time of ASIC’s decision, the companies owed a combined debt of $305,623, with the Australian Taxation Office the main creditor.
“ASIC found that Grubisa fell short of the standards expected of a company director and, as well as engaging in insolvent trading, failed to exercise her powers and discharge her duties as a director … with the degree of care and diligence required,” ASIC said in a statement.
The disqualification took effect on 24 May.
Following several applications in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, the order was extended until October, subject to a condition that Grubisa may only remain a director of Master Wealth Control.
Earlier this month, Justice Ian Jackman said Grubisa had “actual knowledge of the falsity of the representations” made by her company, DG Institute, between April 2017 and August 2022.
The company was found to have engaged in conduct that was misleading or deceptive about an asset protection it promoted as Vestey Trust or Master Wealth Control Package (MWC) and an education program known as Real Estate Rescue (RER).
MWC was said to be the “most egregious” of the two, as it promoted a “complete and immediate protection from creditors to the extent of all their end worth”, when it could only afford limited protection.
“Consumers who enrolled in the MWC course, therefore, paid thousands of dollars for a service which did not offer the protection offered, when that protection was likely to have been the fundamental reason that consumers were willing to pay for that service,” Justice Jackman said in written reasons.
DG Institute was ordered to pay a pecuniary penalty of $5 million to the Commonwealth of Australia, but the order was stayed and of no effect unless and until redress was offered to the students.
The redress is in the region of $14.7 million.
DG Institute and Grubisa were also restrained from making any further representations, and Grubisa was banned from managing corporations for five years.
Grubisa was permitted to manage DG Institute for 91 days from 19 July to give effect to the Federal Court’s orders.
Naomi Neilson
Naomi Neilson is a senior journalist with a focus on court reporting for Lawyers Weekly.
You can email Naomi at:
