Michael Searle, Titans 4 Tomorrow and other baggage from past

[ozynorts]

This is in the Courier Mail today...
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/q...-1227437472114

"THE ATO has launched court action against Gold Coast *Titans founder Michael Searle, seeking almost $300,000 in *alleged unpaid taxes.

The legal claim, lodged this month in the Brisbane District Court, relates to one of the web of Titans-linked companies Searle controlled.

The millionaire accountant gained the NRL licence for the Gold Coast in 2005 after previous Glitter Strip national rugby league teams collapsed.

But he ran into financial strife over the Titans’ ill-fated $11 million Robina headquarters, known as the Centre of Excellence.

Searle lost his $3.2 million investment in the Titans when the NRL took over the cash-strapped club in February as it also battled the fallout from a cocaine scandal that embroiled star players. He resigned as a board member last August when foundation coach John Cartwright also quit after a dismal season.


Now Searle has suffered another blow, with the Australian Taxation Office suing him for $287,720.90.

The action relates to a company called JFW Investments, of which Searle was sole director.

The tax office alleges the company withheld tax liabilities between April 2011 and November 2012 but failed to pass the money on.

JWF was placed in liquidation in 2013."

[Titanic]

Nobody should wish this sort of stuff on anybody but hardly surprising … as Shakespeare said, "oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive".

[karnage]

Nobody should wish this sort of stuff on anybody but hardly surprising … as Shakespeare said, "oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive".

I believe it was also Shakespeare who said - 'The Chickens always come home to roost'.

[amaline]

Also, this Searle talk is off-topic in a Titans forum. Not having a go, Ozynorts. It's just really nice to be able to say that.

[Bayside Titan]

I believe it was also Shakespeare who said - 'The Chickens always come home to roost'.

Mate and aren't they coming home to roost Karnage. !!!!!!




@Tiger_CMail: Michael Searle charity subject of federal police and government investigation http://t.co/WVNrQuJ25J

FORMER Titans owner Michael Searle’s charity is being investigated by the Australian Federal Police, who have raided his offices.

The AFP raided Searle’s offices on behalf of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, allegedly in relation to the Titans 4 Tomorrow program.

It is understood more than a dozen officers attended the raid yesterday morning, and their investigation is ongoing.

The AFP confirmed to The Courier-Mail they were involved in the raid, but directed inquiries to the Prime Minister’s office who are yet to formally respond.

Searle resigned as Titans chief executive last year and then lost his share in the club when it was placed in voluntary administration in February.

Searle clinched the Titans licence in 2005 and worked exceptionally hard to build the expansion club. However a series of poor decisions during the global financial crisis saw the club plunge into debt.

CUTS: Charity hit by government squeeze

The Titans no longer have any connection to Searle or the Titans 4 Tomorrow charity, which is involved in indigenous welfare programs.

Former Titans star Preston Campbell is among a few ex-Titans footballers who are involved in the charity.

It is understood several staff members were made redundant early this year when the T4T program had its federal funding heavily reduced.

Searle is yet to respond to request for comment.

[DIEHARD]

Wow the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and the Federal Police! All Ill say is that I find these accusations very upsetting if any money was mishandled that was given from the government. That is all I will say for now.

[DIEHARD]

Searle’s charity T4T nothing to do with Titans football club
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/nrl/

Former Titans owner Michael Searle’s charity, Titans 4 Tomorrow, is being investigated by the AFP.
Officials from the NRL and the Gold Coast Titans moved quickly yesterday to distance themselves from the club’s embattled former owner, Michael Searle, following revelations the Australian Federal Police had raided the office of his Titans 4 Tomorrow charity on Thursday. Having shot to prominence after piloting the bid team that saw the Gold Coast awarded the NRL’s 16th licence in 2005, Searle has had a steep fall from grace over recent years.

Beginning with an ill-fated investment in a centre of excellence at the club’s Robina base in 2012, Searle’s reign as Titans supremo unravelled in dramatic fashion, culminating in the NRL’s decision to take financial control of the club in February.

Having poured more than $3.2 million of his own money into the club, Searle was forced to walk away, with the remnants of the Titans 4 Tomorrow charity he formed as a separate entity to the football club all he had to show for his multi-million dollar, decade-long investment.

Unfortunately the charity appears to have suffered a similar fate to the club it was designed to represent at a community level.

The T4T offices were raided by a dozen AFP officers early on Thursday morning amid growing concerns about the financial plight of the organisation. The charity had fallen behind in basic staff wages dating back almost two months, with employees’ superannuation reportedly unpaid for more than a year.

Chairman Joshua Creamer has stood down from the T4T board, while Searle’s commitment to T4T’s work has come under question given he is engaged in a legal battle with the Australian Taxation Office, who are suing him for $287,720.90 over debts related to another of his companies.

While unable to comment on the specifics of the AFP investigation, Searle told The Weekend Australian he was confident he had done nothing wrong. Searle’s legal representative Brendan Nyst said his client was co-operating fully with investigators but was unable to shed light on the what precisely the AFP officers were after.

“The nature and specifics of any investigation have not been presented to us, so there is nothing more we can say regarding that,” Nyst said. “My firm was engaged yesterday after a warrant was executed by officers on behalf of the Prime Minister and Cabinet’s office. “They have done a search, they have taken documents they believe are relevant to their investigation.”

Despite having a number of former players involved, the Titans have no affiliation to T4T, a point they sought to make clear in a public statement issued early last night.

“The ‘Titans 4 Tomorrow’ organisation has nothing whatsoever to do with the Gold Coast Titans Football Club,” it read.

[DIEHARD]

Lord only knows how it was allowed for this T4T thingie to still carry the Titans brand. Surely they were using that to open doors. Very unprofessional, but I am sure the NRL wouldnt allow it if they could have stopped it.

[Titanic]

The whole thing is so wrong on so many different levels ... at best its a good idea gone bad but at worst it's just too sinister to contemplate.

[Mr Bods]

There’s an article in the Bulletin today about The defunct Titans 4 Tomorrow program with Michael Searle playing the victim. Absolutely horrible read that brings back terrible memories.

[rj62]

As a casual observer it seems to be going ok. I was up there a couple of weeks back and most of the tenancies in the sport/medicine precinct seem to be full and seem to have attracted some good operators. I think that was the benefit for Parkwood.
And we get access to the facilities like the pool and ice baths etc without having to have the costs of having there own facility. As well as having medical scannning facilities on site.
I think there is probably still some gains from cross promoting the two brands.

At the recent members forum they touched on the fact that the golf club are keen to expand their association with the club.

[DIEHARD]

Ex- Gold Coast Titans boss Michael Searle owed almost $300k in charity collapse
Campbell Gellie, Gold Coast Bulletin

FORMER rugby league bigwig Michael Searle says he is resigned to losing almost $300,000 from a scandal involving a charity he founded 10 years ago.

The former Gold Coast Titans boss has broken his silence about the three-year investigation into embattled charity Titans 4 Tomorrow, which left a trail of debt and a top-level administrator jailed for fraud.

Former Gold Coast Titans managing director and Titans 4 Tomorrow director Michael Searle said he has put a lot of money into NRL on the Gold Coast and won’t get it back.

It can be revealed former professional footballer Michael Scott Close, who claimed to be the T4T general manager, was sentenced to three months jail in April and ordered to repay $96,000.

Liquidators are combing the assets of T4T in search of $371,000 owed to creditors.

Documents from liquidators released late last month reveal creditors are owned a combined $371,000 while there is just $5.50 held in the charity’s Westpac bank account.

Mr Searle’s company, MTS Sports Trust, is the largest creditor, owed $255,612; Pivotal Sports Partnership, which includes companies owned by Mr Searle, Mark Sessarago and Joel Parkinson is owed $50,000; and Mr Searle is personally owed $21,780.

“I’m not going to see that money,” he said. “Nobody will see that money.

“At the end of the day, I have put a lot of money into NRL in this town and I am not going to get that back.”

Michael Close’s sentence comes four years after the Gold Coast Bulletin uncovered the financial plight of T4T. The reporting triggered Australian Federal Police raids on the charity’s Southport office in June 2015.

Michael Scott Close was sentenced to three months in prison after he was convicted of defrauding the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.

The Bulletin revealed the charity was paying $748,000 rent at the Titans’ ill-fated Centre of Excellence in 2011. It dropped to just $88,000 in 2013, despite T4T increasing its programs tenfold.

At that time the charity was receiving $1.5 million of taxpayers’ money.

The $10 million, six-storey Centre of Excellence was considered a state-of-the art league facility when work began in 2009.
Within three years, however, debts of up to $25 million had crippled the club’s property arm. It sold the facility to Bond University and the Titans rented two levels.

A Bulletin search into T4T company records in August 2014 also found:
* The organisation sought three loans — one unsecured of $350,000, another secured of $347,359 and one in 2013 from Gold Coast Titans Pty Ltd for $417,392.
* Received $2.3 million in Federal Government funding in 2013, and $1.35 million in 2012 and generated more than $3.5 million in outside sponsorship for that period.
* As of October 2013, had more than $1.5 million in liabilities.
* Paid $370,000 and $237,000 in consultancy fees over two years.

Mr Searle, a major shareholder and board member of the Titans resigned the week the Bulletin exposed the financials of the organisation.

Months later he said he’d poured $3.2 million into the club and left without a cent. The NRL did not paid out any one shareholder.

Darryl Kelly lost $5.3 million. Anshuman Magazine owned 13 per cent in the club and lost $1.5 million. World champion surfer Joel Parkinson was a silent partner in Searle’s 39 per cent share and lost $566,000.

Mr Searle said at the time investors had stumped up over $22 million since 2005 to keep the club running.

Later in 2015, Mr Searle said T4T had closed. However, it did not go into liquidation until February this year.

Speaking on the Gold Coast last week, Mr Searle said the charity did some “amazing work” and that should not be forgotten.

“It is sad it had to come to an end in the way it did but that’s life and we have all moved on,” he said.

Michael Close who played for North Sydney Bears was convicted at Toronto Local Court in New South Wales in December. His appeal was dismissed at Newcastle District Court on April 16.

“Mr Close forged numerous documents which falsely claimed that T4T had delivered a training and employment program to about 40 young indigenous adults,” a Director of Commonwealth Public Prosecutions spokesman said.

“The forged and false documents were subsequently submitted to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and resulted in $96,000 in Commonwealth funding being obtained by deception.”

Close is listed as a consultant in liquidation documents but on LinkedIn he has the title of general manager.

Mr Searle — who founded T4T in 2008 with the aim to provide economic development for indigenous people and communities through improved health, education and employment outcomes — would not comment on Close’s conviction, saying it was a matter dealt with in court.

Most of the organisation’s income came from the Federal Government and Mr Searle said the fraud investigation affected the charity’s ability to secure future grants, forcing him to close the company in late 2015.

HOW THE T4T COLLAPSE HAPPENED

March, 2008: Simcorp is engaged to build the Centre of Excellence at Robina.

May 2008: Michael Searle establishes Titans 4 Tomorrow, a not-for-profit organisation to help young Australians.

January, 2010: Titans move into the Centre of Excellence despite construction not being completed.

February 2010: Centre of Excellence building site is locked down amid allegations workers aren’t being paid. Simcorp claim they are owed $4.2 million by the club. The allegation is thrown out in court and Simcorp goes into liquidation.

April 4, 2012: Bob Clark and Phil Ward buy the Centre of Excellence who sell it to Bond University in September.

May, 2, 2012: Voluntary administrator of Titans’ construction arm reveals the club has debts of up to $25 million relating to the Centre of Excellence. CEO Searle offers a rescue package of $200,000 of his own money.

July, 2012: Mr Searle resigns as managing director.

April, 2014: Mr Searle returns to the club as a board member.

August 5, 2014: Foundation coach John Cartwright and Michael Searle step down.

August 8, 2014: A Bulletin probe into T4T financial accounts reveals it paid $748,000 in rent to the Titans in 2011.
March 2015: Federal indigenous Affairs department reveal it is investigating T4T.

August 2015: Australian Federal Police seize documents during raid of T4T office at Southport.
October 2015: Mr Searle announces the charity would be shut down.

December 2017: Former T4T general manager Michael Scott Close convicted of defrauding the government $96,000 and sentenced to three months in prison.

February 2018: T4T goes into liquidation owing creditors $371,000.

April 2018: Close’s appeal dismissed in Newcastle District Court. He is made to serve three-month prison sentence.

[DIEHARD]

There’s an article in the Bulletin today about The defunct Titans 4 Tomorrow program with Michael Searle playing the victim. Absolutely horrible read that brings back terrible memories.

Absolutely nasty memories there. What a web... What a nasty web.

[DIEHARD]

I love how no one has replied to this thread. Says it all. That's a healthy attitude folks. Leave it in the past.

[Mr Bods]

It angers me to see local Indigenous Kids getting around in Broncos gear from the program that they replaced it with. Thats hard to let go of.