Canberra developers slammed with ASIC disqualification

The two property developers were reported to have “failed to manage companies to the standard expected of company directors”.

ASIC stated that Mr Farrelly allowed Tiger Property Group (TPG), one of the development firms he co-managed, to lend over $7 million to related entities “without documenting the terms of the loans and resigned as a director of TPG before ensuing the loans were repaid”.

They also reported that Mr Farrelly traded whilst insolvent, and “deferred payment of tax in favour of maintaining the cash flow of other companies managed by him”.

Meanwhile, his colleague Mr Kelly reportedly failed to ensure Lifestyle Homes lodged activity statements and payment summaries to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), and traded 3 Property Group 13 whilst insolvent.

Both Mr Farrelly and Mr Kelly resigned as directors of their development firms in order to protect their credit rating, a move which endangered the credit rating of their replacement director, Paul Hamilton.

In November 2023, ASIC disqualified Mr Hamilton from managing corporations for two years due to “a lack of care and diligence and a lack of commercial morality”.

At the time of ASIC’s decision to disqualify Mr Farrelly and Mr Kelly, the property development firms they managed owed creditors a combined total of almost $9.5 million, including over $3 million to the ATO.

Mr Farrelly, Mr Kelly and Mr Hamilton are barred from managing corporations until 23 October 2025, when the disqualification will lift.

The trio of property developers are not the only managers to be targeted by ASIC in recent months. In November 2023, former Magnolia Group director Mitchell Atkins was disqualified from managing corporations for the next five years.

Six months ago, ASIC also cracked down on a self-styled investment expert who raised $32 million without a licence for investment schemes, while in December the watchdog charged a Queensland investor with 20 counts of white-collar crime.