Big names linked to fall
Property manager under administration with $150k in outstanding debts
DEVELOPERS, corporate high-flyers and an acclaimed Australian artist are out of pocket after a property management company run by the aunt and uncle of Hollywood actor Margot Robbie went into liquidation.
Robbie Robbie & Associates went into administration on April 9 with hundreds of thousands of dollars held in company trust accounts for 32 tenants and landlords including companies linked to developer Ron Bakir, accountant Scott McMurtrie and artist Ken Done.
Robbie Robbie & Associates’ sole director was Lyn Robbie, 58, however her husband Wayne, 61, was also involved with the business.
Wayne’s brother Doug Robbie, 63, who works with Wayne in another real estate company and is father of 2018 Oscar nominee Margot, is also listed as a creditor with an unquantified amount owing. Margot Robbie has no involvement in the running of the business.
Other creditors include WorkCover Qld, industrial developer Polaris Coomera, a mixed martial arts academy at Burleigh, a crossfit studio at Varsity Lakes, a popular whale watching business, juice bar, gymnastics club, sandwich shop and a hairdressing salon.
Liquidator Morgan Lane of Worrells has been appointed to the company, while the Queensland Office of Fair Trading has appointed McGrath Nicol as receiver to the trust accounts.
Related company Wayne Robbie & Associates, registered by Wayne Robbie in October, has provided $11,000 towards funding the liquidation.
As well as the undetermined funds held in the trust accounts, Robbie Robbie owed more than $150,000 to others, including $39,249 to the tax office; $7726 to advertising agency Harbour & Small; $2290 to Telstra; $2207 to Print Management Facilities Australia; and $1761 to Shred-X.
Lyn Robbie’s report on the company’s position did not declare any outstanding employee entitlements. Ms Robbie did not return the Bulletin’s calls yesterday.
Mr Bakir, who at 17 started the Crazy Ron’s mobilephone stores and today operates a major property business, said his auditors were trying to quantify what he was owed by Robbie Robbie, which was managing a commercial property for him. He described the situation as “terrible”.
“It’s really a nightmare and in this day and age you don’t think this could happen – you give someone your property to manage and this sort of mess happens,” Mr Bakir said.
Robbie Robbie, which was operating from the Surfers Paradise RSL building at 9 Beach Rd, reported a debt of $21,557 to a company named Young Rabbit, which is linked to Sydney-based Australian Pacific College and has a campus in the same building.
Robbie Robbie also reported a debt of $25,023 to Mr McMurtrie’s PKF Accountants, which trades two floors above the failed firm in an office Wayne Robbie sold on behalf of Mr McMurtrie for $1.95 million in November.
Wayne Robbie is also director of Niddui, a company that owns level 19 of the building, which property records show was bought from Southport lawyer Michael Dwyer and Peter Drake, boss of juggernaut 2013 company collapse LM Investment, for $640,200 in 2003.
LM Investment failed in 2013, leaving about 12,000 Australian and overseas investors $800 million out of pocket and sending him bankrupt.