Mystery behind bankrupt's bid to be excused

Bankrupt Dolores Lavin, who has applied to have her
summons for public examination discharged on the
basis of an unspecified medical condition

ONE can only imagine what Worrell's Aaron Lucan is making of the application by self-declared bankrupt Dolores Lavin to be exempted from being examined about her financial affairs.

In the Federal Circuit Court yesterday Lavin's barrister Geoff McDonald said that a 'medico' had been identified who could provide the expert testimony upon which Lavin will rely in her application to have her summons to appear at a public examination discharged.

The court has previously heard that an initial assessment of Lavin's undisclosed medical condition had proved unsatisfactory for the purposes of the application because that doctor had been unwilling to sign the appropriate code of conduct declaration as it relates to independence. However a sufficiently independent specialist has since been identified.

At one point Judge Nicholas Manousaridis asked McDonald who was instructing him. When McDonald replied: "solicitors", the judge asked: "Who's instructing them?"

McDonald's reply, if there was one, was indistinct but outside the court he counselled against making "dangerous assumptions".

Arrest warrants voided as accountants appear

From Left: Bill Gertos, solicitor James Jordan
Therese Alha and Constantine Savell
Photo: SiN Images

APPARENTLY they never knew. About the summonses to attend for public examinations, about the orders to produce documents or about the warrants for their arrest, issued after the summonses expired uncomplied with. Accountants Bill Gertos, Constantine Savell and Therese Alha. No idea.

The Federal Court heard as much last Friday in room 19c around 3.00pm. Registrar Chaun Ng warned the three that they must appear when summonsed. Seated in the front row of the public gallery, Gertos said that if he had known about the summons, "I would've been here".

The three, all connected to Camperdown firm Gertos Savell Katos (GSK), were originally summonsed to appear on Monday, November 23, 2015.

Lawyers acting for creditors of bankrupt artistic agent Dolores Lavin are keen to scrutinise arrangements which have seen title to a $3.8 million Potts Point apartment pass from a family trust controlled by Lavin as trustee to a family trust controlled by a trustee company called Billy Buckle Pty Ltd controlled by Gertos.

Of the three only Savell was delivered to the court under arrest. His lawyer James Jordan portrayed it as unfortunate and unnecessary, telling the registrar that five minutes after Savell had advised him he was preparing to surrender voluntarily, a pair of agents from the Australian Federal Police executed the warrant and brought him in. Alha and Gertos surrendered voluntarily.

Unaccustomed to issuing arrest warrants, Registrar Ng accepted undertakings from the three to comply with their summonses and declared the arrest warrants void. The summonses now require Gertos and Savell to produce documents and Alha to present herself for examination tomorrow.

Arrest warrants issued for Lavin's accountants

Accountant Con Savell of Gertos, Savell Katos

THE wash up from day one of public examinations into the bankrupt estate of artistic agent Dolores Lavin culminated in the issue of arrest warrants for her accountants and an application by Lavin to be excused from her examination on undisclosed medical grounds.

Late on Monday afternoon Federal Court Registrar Chuan Ng issued warrants for the arrest of Bill Gertos, Con Savell and Therese Alha. Barrister Geoff McDonald, who is representing Lavin and others summoned to appear advised by text message late yesterday that the accountants would appear at the court today.

All three are connected to accounting firm Gertos Savell Katos in Camperdown, though a testy receptionist told SiN over the telephone that Bill Gertos had no association with the accounting practice whatsoever.

An ASIC search of Gertos Savell Katos Pty Limited confirmed that Bill Gertos is neither a director or a shareholder of that company.

However in his Declaration of Independence, Relevant Relationships and Indemnities (DIRRI), Lavin's trustee in bankruptcy declared that Gertos Savell Katos refers work to Worrells from time to time and that "Bill Gertos is one of the partners of Gertos Savell Katos Accountants & Advisors."

In his initial report to creditors Aaron Lucan showed that Gertos has in recent years been installed as director and shareholder of former Lavin entities DLM Australia Pty Limited, DLM Capital Pty Limited and Luxe Studios & Productions Pty Limited.

Lavin bankruptcy a curly one for Worrells

Bankrupt artistic agent, Dolores Lavin
Image: DLMLA

WORRELL'S Aaron Lucan must be having an interesting time at present, variously cajoling and coercing the rival claimants to the estate of Dolores Lavin, a bankrupt artistic agent whose assets are linked to an accountant given to slinging work Worrells' way.

In his first report to creditors as Lavin's trustee in bankruptcy, Lucan told creditors: "There are many complex and varied issues affecting Ms Lavin's assets and liabilities." He wasn't kidding.

For a start there seems to be genuine contention in regards to proprietorship of Lavin's apartment in Potts Point. She paid $3.8 million for the Wylde Street pad in 2008 with a mortgage from Westpac. Current valuations are coming in anywhere between $2.058 million and $3.2 million.

For Lavin's creditors, Wylde Street represents real potential, though Lucan has yet to disclose how much, if any of their $5.32 million in claims he's accepted in proofs of debt.

According to Lucan's report, Lavin, who filed for bankruptcy via a debtors petition on February 19, 2015, is sole registered owner on title to the apartment. However Lucan told creditors there are "unregistered dealings on title" that may effect the validity of the mortgage.

These dealings appear to be at odds with orders made in the Supreme Court of NSW in February 2014 and according to Lucan, Lavin neglected to disclose the property's existence in her Statement of Affairs (SoA). But that's perhaps because she doesn't regard herself as sole registered proprietor.

"During an interview with the bankrupt on March 9, 2015, I was advised that the bankrupt was registered on title in her capacity as trustee for the Wylde Family Trust," Lucan said.

"I was provided with documentation relating to a change of trustee. I requested a copy of the trust deed.

"On 16 March 2015 I received a copy of the trust deed accompanying a letter from a solicitor purporting to act for the trustee of the Wylde Street Trust, Billy Buckle Pty Limited.

"I have received information and documentary evidence from a creditor refuting the assertion that the property is held on trust," Lucan claimed.

EXCLUSIVE: Dolores Lavin declares bankruptcy

The Wylde Street Potts Point complex housing
Dolores Lavin's cherished home.

FOLLOWING her failure to win a reprieve in the High Court, artistic agent Dolores Lavin has declared bankruptcy in a move unlikely to satisfy ex-bestie Paola Toppi, who has a court judgment and bankruptcy notice ordering that Lavin pay Toppi and her husband Neil Cunningham more than $870,000.

Documents obtained by SiN show Lavin was registered as a bankrupt on the national personal insolvency index on February 19, 2015, a week after the High Court shut the last door on her fight to avoid recovery proceedings Toppi of Machiavelli Ristorante fame commenced in 2011.

Worrells' Aaron Lucan has consented to act as trustee of Lavin's bankrupt estate but given the dealings that have taken place regarding the proprietorship of Lavin's ritzy Wylde Street apartment in Potts Point, it promises to be anything but boring.

On September 13, 2013 a Deed of Change of Trustee was registered. Listed on the deed of change are Lavin, accountant Constantine Savell, Billy Buckle Pty Ltd and The Wylde Family Trust. Effectively the deed empowers Savell as appointor of the trust to appoint Billy Buckle Pty Ltd, replacing Lavin as trustee of the The Wylde Family Trust.