Sacked Dubber boss could lose multimillion-dollar home

Sydney Morning Herald

11 hours ago

Fresh court documents reveal that the day before the trading halt, McGovern took out a $1.9 million mortgage on his Warrandyte home.
About the same time, Madafferi was emailing Dubber's board members, assuring them the money was locked up in the term deposit account that never existed, according to documents lodged by the company in the Victorian Supreme Court.
Macquarie Bank launched proceedings in the same court this month to repossess the four-bedroom home McGovern inherited in 2004, perched in a quiet cul-de-sac in the north-eastern Melbourne suburb.
The bank issued a default notice to the 60-year-old in May after he failed to make any of the monthly repayments. A Macquarie spokesperson declined to comment, citing the ongoing court case.
McGovern's other residence, a Collingwood apartment purchased in 2013, was re-mortgaged by a private lender just two weeks before Macquarie filed its lawsuit.
McGovern did not respond to questions sent by this masthead, including the curious timing of the February 26, 2024, loan.
McGovern founded Dubber in 2011, which launched on the ASX in 2015 via a back-door listing. The tech company, backed by Melbourne billionaire Alex Waislitz, provides low-cost cloud-based phone recording and data harvesting software to a notable telco client list, including Optus, Telstra and AT&T.
In July, Dubber sued McGovern and Madafferi over 39 payments of the Dubber cash they allegedly dished out to themselves and other figures, including gangland identities.
In August 2021, $30 million was transferred to Madafferi's trust account to be invested in the term deposit – but Dubber has accused the men of never investing the money, instead forging documents to deceive the company's board members.
It's alleged that on the same day the millions landed in Madafferi's account, the men immediately started transferring the funds, including a $200,000 payment to John Khory, Mick Gatto's long-time business partner and underworld figure; a $3 million transfer to a residential estate development in Geelong; and nearly $1 million dished out to companies associated with Mo Abou-Eid, a financial planner with ties to gangland identities.
Some of the other payments recorded by Madafferi were detailed as: 'Supreme Court Litigation', 'Mortgage', 'ATO Compliance Enforcement Proceeding' and 'Family Law General'.
The last of the 39 payments was made in April 2022 – a $50,000 transfer to McGovern.
Madafferi and McGovern have not yet filed a defence.
McGovern and Madafferi were barred from leaving the country after ASIC requested Federal Court Justice Mark Moshinsky to issue travel bans against the men while the watchdog investigated.
An update on ASIC's case is expected in September, when lawyers for the corporate regulator will front the court for a hearing.