The founder of a collapsed superannuation fund splurged more than $9million on a five-bedroom waterfront mansion before allegedly siphoning retirement savings from thousands of hard-working Aussies to himself.
The First Guardian Master Fund is now in liquidation with 6,000 retirement savers owed $590million between them.
David Anderson, 46, a director of the fund and a parent company Falcon Capital Limited, is accused of siphoning millions of dollars into his personal ANZ bank account and shifting money overseas after the corporate regulator launched an investigation into his business affairs.
The home on Glan Avon Road, built in 2014, backs onto the Yarra River and is in one of Melbourne‘s most upmarket postcodes within walking distance of the city centre.
The mansion would now be conservatively worth more than $10million, or almost four times Hawthorn’s already expensive median house price of $2.6million, based on Cotality data.
As anxious Australians wonder whether they will ever see their retirement savings again, Anderson allegedly lives a life of luxury in a waterfront home with a pool, a landscaped garden cascading down to the river and an interior with spotted gum hardwood floors and a sculptured staircase.
The Federal Court this week agreed to an application from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) to stop Mr Anderson and fellow Falcon Capital director Simon Selimaj, 63, from leaving Australia.
The founder of a collapsed superannuation fund splurged more than $9million on this five-bedroom waterfront mansion in Hawthorn, in inner Melbourne
David Anderson, 46, a director of that fund and its parent company Falcon Capital Limited, bought the mansion in the upmarket inner-Melbourne suburb of Hawthorn for $9.040million in December 2020
ASIC in February obtained the power to freeze the assets of Anderson, the First Guardian Master Fund and Falcon Capital, with FTI Consulting appointed as liquidators in April.
FTI Consulting has promised an initial report to creditors by July 9, with senior managing partners Ross Blakeley and Paul Harlond handling the case.
‘Since our appointment, we have been conducting a critical assessment of the situation and position of the company and funds, in accordance with the court order to wind up the affairs of the entities,’ a spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia.
‘We remain committed to providing the creditors of the company and unitholders of the funds with updates throughout the liquidation process, including regarding the potential for and timing of any returns.’
PKF Melbourne partner Paul Allen was appointed a receiver of Anderson’s property.
Anderson is accused of siphoning $5.6million into his personal ANZ account ‘without any legitimate basis for payments in that amount being apparent to ASIC or disclosed to investors’.
The Melbourne-born company director is also accused of moving $274million overseas after learning of ASIC’s investigation into financial irregularities.
The First Guardian Master Fund was initially registered in August 2019 as a managed investment fund.
He bought his five-bedroom, three bathroom mansion in the upmarket inner-Melbourne suburb of Hawthorn for $9.040million in December 2020
But a search of Anderson’s corporate history shows he had 20 roles with companies using the First Guardian name going back to 2014.
These include First Guardian Property, First Guardian Synergy Capital, First Guardian Holdings, First Guardian Investments, First Guardian Services and First Guardian Capital.
Anderson had been a director of Falcon Capital Limited since November 2012.
His home address in Hawthorn was listed 72 times on his corporate file for a range of companies including the Rogue Traders Group and Rogue Traders Management which were wound up in March.
His 34-page registry with ASIC and the Australian Business Register includes 102 roles that have ceased and 25 that are still current, with companies registered to his home address in Hawthorn and a rented commercial office space in nearby Richmond.
Mr Anderson’s defence lawyer Dan Mackay, a director of Mackay Chapman, previously said ‘there have been no findings of fact or law by any court or tribunal, nor by ASIC’.
‘Mr Anderson will fully exercise his rights in response to allegations which may be made against him at the appropriate time in the appropriate forum,’ Mr Mackay said.
Many Australians invested with First Guardian after being contacted by Venture Egg Financial Services, whose director Ferras Merhi Pty was a VFL ruckman.
The Federal Court froze Mr Merhi’s assets in February following an ASIC application.
