Heartland Bank is chasing down money used by Andrew Jeffery to purchase property with long-term partner Christina Domecq at a time her business interests were in trouble. Ms Domecq filed for bankruptcy in 2019 after held liable on debts exceeding $13.2 million following a failed attempt to float Fulcrum Group on ASX.
Software-based marketing company Ora HQ Ltd and consultant Wild Logic Ltd, both previously controlled by Ms Domecq, are in liquidation owing Heartland Bank in excess of three million dollars. The High Court was told Heartland Bank threatened recovery action against Ora HQ back in June 2017 when debt was $1.2 million in arrears. Within weeks, Ora HQ sold part of its business, failing to pay the $650,000 deposit received into its Heartland bank account as required by Heartland’s loan agreement. Some of this money found its way into a separate Wild Logic bank account. Around the same time, Mr Jeffery paid $250,000 into Wild Logic’s bank account, transferring $240,000 out of that account the next day into a solicitor’s trust account to fund purchase of a residential property at 84 Watkins Road. Real estate records identify a property with this address sold near Hawea.
Heartland Bank’s security also covered Wild Logic’s assets. The Bank claims security over the $240,000 paid out from Wild Logic for the Watkins Road purchase. Watkins Road has since been sold. Of the net proceeds: a $140,000 deposit put up by Ms Domecq on the purchase was paid to Insolvency Service as an asset in her bankruptcy; the balance of some $250,000 is held in a solicitor’s trust account with both Heartland Bank and Mr Jeffery claiming the money.
Mr Jeffrey was late filing his papers in court. Over Heartland Bank’s objections, he was given leave to file late. Mr Jeffrey says the $240,000 was his own money; Wild Logic was simply used as a conduit to pass cash through to a lawyer for the Watkins Road purchase, he says. Provenance of this $240,000 awaits a full court hearing.
Heartland Bank Ltd v. Ora HQ Ltd – High Court (12.02.21)
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