Latest news with #LionPropertyGroup
The Age
03-07-2025
- Business
- The Age
Investors win court fight to wind up Lion Property Group as lawyers drop cash-strapped developer
A luxury property developer accused of mishandling $120 million of investor money has been placed into liquidation at the request of its investors. Lion Property Group was put into liquidation by the Supreme Court of Victoria on Wednesday after the group failed to hand over its books and records to an independent auditor as it had promised. Lawyers for the investors told the court the liquidation was necessary because Lion had told its own advisers that it could not provide a full set of its books and records or pay for the audit of their business because it had 'no cash in the bank'. Lawyers for Lion flagged they would be dropping their client because they had also not been paid by the group, the court heard. As well as placing the group into liquidation, Justice Patricia Matthews ordered that Lion's founders, John Sader and Garry Pesochinsky, be restrained from making key decisions about the fund's syndicates while the group was in liquidation. Lion was behind a series of high-end boutique property developments in blue-chip areas in Melbourne, such as Brighton, Camberwell, Elwood and South Yarra, as well as affluent suburbs on the Gold Coast and in Brisbane. The properties being developed were expensive – often $4 million per townhouse. This masthead revealed last month that a group of investors had taken action against the group amid concerns about how their money had been used. Many of the projects had not been started or were delayed, and several development sites had been sold by mortgagees in possession. The court action alleged Sader and Pesochinsky had engaged in a range of breaches of their duties to investors. At an earlier hearing, the court heard that some investors were concerned that Lion was running a Ponzi scheme.
Sydney Morning Herald
03-07-2025
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
Investors win court fight to wind up Lion Property Group as lawyers drop cash-strapped developer
A luxury property developer accused of mishandling $120 million of investor money has been placed into liquidation at the request of its investors. Lion Property Group was put into liquidation by the Supreme Court of Victoria on Wednesday after the group failed to hand over its books and records to an independent auditor as it had promised. Lawyers for the investors told the court the liquidation was necessary because Lion had told its own advisers that it could not provide a full set of its books and records or pay for the audit of their business because it had 'no cash in the bank'. Lawyers for Lion flagged they would be dropping their client because they had also not been paid by the group, the court heard. As well as placing the group into liquidation, Justice Patricia Matthews ordered that Lion's founders, John Sader and Garry Pesochinsky, be restrained from making key decisions about the fund's syndicates while the group was in liquidation. Lion was behind a series of high-end boutique property developments in blue-chip areas in Melbourne, such as Brighton, Camberwell, Elwood and South Yarra, as well as affluent suburbs on the Gold Coast and in Brisbane. The properties being developed were expensive – often $4 million per townhouse. This masthead revealed last month that a group of investors had taken action against the group amid concerns about how their money had been used. Many of the projects had not been started or were delayed, and several development sites had been sold by mortgagees in possession. The court action alleged Sader and Pesochinsky had engaged in a range of breaches of their duties to investors. At an earlier hearing, the court heard that some investors were concerned that Lion was running a Ponzi scheme.
