- Exclusive
- National
- Victoria
- Governance
Heir’s lavish lifestyle continues as his business empire crashes down around him
A freight empire has collapsed with massive debts of more than $116 million, while its high-flying director insists he will launch fresh bankruptcy proceedings against former AFL manager Ricky Nixon over an alleged debt of $40,000.
Family-owned Austrans Container Services was placed into liquidation last July, but documents filed with the corporate regulator reveal Gregory O’Shea is being investigated over allegations he repeatedly breached his director duties and allowed the company to trade while insolvent.
Greg O’Shea’s transport and logistics company, Austrans, collapsed with debts of more than $116 million.Credit: Instagram
A statutory report by liquidator Cor Cordis also confirmed it was examining claims that unfair preference payments and uncommercial transactions were made before Austrans’ sudden demise.
“A number of stakeholders have raised concerns about the company’s conduct during the period prior to our appointment. The concerns raised appear to relate to the misappropriation of company and customer assets,” according to the report by Cor Cordis chief executive Daniel Juratowitch.
The report, filed in October with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, states that any recovery of assets in the liquidation is “highly unlikely”.
Juratowitch also advised creditors his investigation had been hampered by inadequate information from Austrans and its sole director, including a failure by O’Shea to provide a personal statement of his assets and liabilities.
O’Shea continued his lavish lifestyle after the liquidation of the family company.Credit: Instagram
The long list of creditors includes 160 former employees who are owed more than $1.7 million in unpaid wages, superannuation and other entitlements.
However, the liquidation of Austrans has failed to curb O’Shea’s lavish lifestyle. The 36-year-old and his wife, Sarah Fyfe, sold a historic Toorak mansion for about $7 million in January. He now rents a luxury home in Brighton East for more than $3000 a week.
Austrans is not the first business associated with O’Shea that has collapsed.Credit: Instagram
O’Shea, who took over the 37-year-old business from his father, said it had been sabotaged by a rival transport company, which he accused of illegally suspending its services to derail Austrans and its holding company, Vermile Pty Ltd.
“I categorically deny all the allegations in the liquidator’s report. The report is vague, outdated and contains inaccuracies concerning the inflated debt of $116 million which has been substantially exaggerated due to excited creditors adding a decimal point here, and a few extra zeros there,” O’Shea said.
“When the time comes for Cor Cordis to substantiate the debt of $116 million, I’ll be happy to work with them,” he said.
O’Shea, a former real estate agent and player agent with Nixon’s former company, Flying Start, told The Age he would relaunch bankruptcy action against his former boss, despite the case being dismissed in the Federal Court in November because he failed to attend.
“I didn’t even know about the last bankruptcy hearing, which is why I have changed lawyers. If you want to talk about Ricky Nixon, I’ll send you all the evidence,” he said.
O’Shea filed a creditor’s petition last year claiming he made an agreement with Nixon to sell five corporate hospitality tickets to the AFL grand final. The tickets were owned by O’Shea. Nixon denied any wrongdoing and claimed the debt was about $900, before the case was dropped.
Nixon told The Age O’Shea was “full of shit” and was legally unable to relaunch bankruptcy proceedings.
Last year, O’Shea was embroiled in other legal action in Queensland with former partner Rebecca Klodinsky, who alleged in court documents that he had failed to pay $425,000 as part of an out-of-court settlement of a financial dispute.
As part of the settlement deed from May 2024, O’Shea agreed to pay the funds by October 15 if he sold Austrans or shares in Vermile Pty Ltd, according to documents filed in the Brisbane District Court.
In his defence, O’Shea denied liability for the debt because he claimed Klodinsky had refused to sell their Gold Coast property on Chevron Island. O’Shea said the matter would be dealt with at an upcoming court hearing, while Klodinsky declined to comment.
In 2018, O’Shea’s previous real estate venture, Delmege O’Shea Pty Ltd, was also placed into liquidation, and never paid its former principal agent, Lynda White, $170,000 in unpaid commissions, superannuation and other entitlements.
White told this masthead she was unsurprised that Austrans had collapsed with massive debts.
“At the time, I reported Greg to ASIC and the Tax Office. But obviously nothing was done, and here we are again,” White said.
O’Shea described White as a “disgruntled employee”, while correspondence from his solicitor to White’s lawyer states: “Any debt owing to your client is owing by Delmege O’Shea and not [by] our client.”
Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.