HIGH-ROLLER DEVELOPER BLAMES LOVER FOR AMEX BILL
A besieged developer had a relationship with his Instagram-influencer personal assistant, who he then blamed for racking up hundreds of thousands in debt on his limitless black Amex card, court records have revealed.
Documents filed in three separate cases have provided a public glimpse of the highrolling lifestyle of Danny Isaac, managing director of Descon and its related Adcon companies, which have major development and construction projects underway along the east coast.
Allegations of a Rolls Royce Wraith, Land Rover, Rolex, a “large pile of expensive designer bags” and rent for multiple apartments being charged to the companies have been aired in one of the cases.
The luxury is a jarring contrast to Descon Group’s wrangles with former staff, subcontractors and suppliers, who have peppered it with credit defaults, statutory demands, ATO debt collections and court actions.
In one case settled last month, Mr Isaac, 36, went to court to fight an $881,000
American Express debt, which he partly attributed to alleged “suspicious transactions”, made at designer stores by his former lover.
It is unknown whether Chanel Amenta, 24 - the glamorous daughter of a well-known Melbourne businessman who’s friends with underworld figure Mick Gatto - was aware of the accusations aired in the court documents.
Meanwhile, in an affidavit from another court case, Mr Isaac’s ex-wife alleges he threatened her life, telling her he would send “some biker guys from the Banditos (sic) to shoot you between the eyes”.
A tattooed stranger appeared at the ex-wife’s doorstep later that day as she was home alone with the pair’s baby son, the court documents said.
Court documents filed in a Brisbane Supreme Court case, which settled last month, revealed Amex had been chasing an $880,782 debt since December.
An affidavit from Mr Isaac said Descon, and subsidiary Adcon Vic, each had a card with him as “named cardholder”.
It said the cards were “used
for both personal and business expenses in the approximate amount of $830,000 per month for each card”.
Mr Isaac’s affidavit said “suspicious transactions”, made without his authorisation and totalling “at least $200,000” between December 2021 and August 2022, were identified on the cards “and that there may be more in prior periods”.
Mr Isaac said nine of the questionable purchases were made at designer store Louis Vuitton and that he “was informed” they had been made by Ms Amenta, who was his personal assistant at Adcon from August 2019 to February 2021.
“I was extremely shocked when I discovered that it was her,” Mr Isaac’s affidavit said.
The Gold Coast Bulletin has attempted to contact Ms Amenta, who is the daughter of Melbourne concreter Mario Amenta.
Mr Amenta’s associates include union chief John Setka and underworld boss Mick Gatto, whose biography described him as a “tremendous friend”.
The concreter was also named in the 2014 Royal Commission into Trade Union Corruption, described as a
“facilitator” for discussions between building bosses and the CFMEU.
His company, XL Concrete, is the “key supplier” for Adcon projects in Victoria, court documents revealed.
Ms Amenta made national headlines in 2020 when she copped a $1652 fine for flouting Victoria’s lockdown laws.
The influencer shot photos and videos – streamed to her 21,000 followers – as reps from high-end designer Fendi gave her a private shopping session in her luxury apartment.
The jaunt prompted Victorian Premier Dan Andrews to tell media “there’s nothing urgent about a luxury handbag”.
Mr Isaac said he was surprised Louis Vuitton had allowed the transactions on his card given “Chanel is a young girl in her 20s and it is highly unusual for someone in their early 20s to have a black Amex card”.
The affidavit said the physical card, which had Mr Isaac’s name on it, had stayed with him “at all times”.
Mr Isaac went on to say he’d shopped regularly at the designer store in recent years and they “recognise me when I enter”, so staff could have called him to confirm purchases under his name.
Mr Isaac’s affidavit, which he signed from Dubai, said Ms Amenta had been authorised to make “certain transactions” on the cards.
“I did not authorise her to use the credit cards for any purpose after her resignation nor at any time for any personal reasons without my specific and explicit agreement”.
In a separate Federal Court case, launched by Descon Group and Adcon Admin against former employee Anthony Quinn in 2021, Mr Isaac confirmed he’d been in an “intimate personal relationship” with Ms Amenta, which had “upset Najah”, now his ex-wife.
The Federal case, in which Descon alleged Mr Quinn had “misused” confidential information and “badmouthed” the company, was settled in April 2022.
In an affidavit filed in the proceedings, Mr Issac sought to establish part of his case by annexing papers from another case which is still ongoing down in Melbourne.
Mr Isaac’s affidavit said Ms Isaac had obtained asset freezing orders against her ex and his companies after claiming she’d been unknowingly removed from their directorships and shareholdings. Her annexed affidavit said she and Mr Isaac had built the group of companies from a small formwork business in Brisbane, but that she had been effectively excluded by a restructure after the pair separated.
The affidavit said she had been contacted by suppliers since 2019, stating they had not been paid and wrote of Mr Isaac’s “excessive lifestyle expenditure post-separation”.
According to the affidavit, Ms Isaac “believed” her estranged husband had spent $8000 a week on a penthouse apartment; bought an $850,000 Rolls Royce Wraith Eagle; a $50,000 Aprilla motorcycle; a Range Rover Sport SVR; and a $67,000 Rolex as a birthday gift for Ms Amenta.
Ms Isaac’s searches on the vehicles found they were each held in the name of Adcon companies, with Macquaries Leasing holding security over them.
“I was very concerned that unpaid suppliers from the companies would not be happy that he had bought such an expensive car,” Ms Isaac’s affidavit said. “I told him again to pay the supplier accounts which were overdue instead of spending money on such an expensive car.”