Melbourne business identity Francis Galbally drawn into court dispute involving conman
A member of one of Melbourne's most well-known legal dynasties has been accused of being involved in unconscionable conduct in a bitter court battle involving a serial fraudster and a US lawsuit against Uber.
Former lawyer Francis Galbally, who is closely involved with the Collingwood Football Club and whose family includes prominent criminal defence lawyers, has been accused in the Federal Court of helping to hand a series of patents — potentially worth billions — to a US company for free.
The allegations have been made by a group of investors of Australian company Allotz, which had owned the patents for algorithms used to calculate surge pricing.
Allotz had engaged Mr Galbally's investment bank to raise money in order to seek payments from companies like Uber for the alleged use of the patented algorithms.
The patents could be worth as much as $20 billion or as little as nothing at all if legal efforts to get Uber and others to pay fail.
In February, the ABC revealed that some of the money poured into Allotz appeared to have been procured from investors by serial fraudster Scott Fisher, who was convicted in Thailand in 2004 for running a boiler room scheme in Bangkok — a boiler room is a type of scam where victims are cold-called and sold dodgy shares in companies.
In 2020, Mr Galbally's Southbank Capital raised more than $4.4 million from investors to back Allotz.
The following year, after a falling out between Mr Galbally and the existing management of Allotz, Southbank took control of the patents and transferred them to a US company called Surgetech.
According to documents filed with the court, Southbank did not charge Surgetech anything for the patents, but said this was because the US company was just a vehicle through which the investors could sue Uber.
It said its fundraising agreement with Allotz gave it the legal right to seize the patents for the benefit of the investors, because the company had failed to tell them about financial issues including a fight with the Austalian Tax Office and the previous bankruptcy of Allotz's founder Martin McConnachie.
However, in a statement of claim filed with the Federal Court last week, a group of investors — including Mr McConnachie — allege Southbank and Mr Galbally didn't have the right to seize the patents.
They said they provided detailed financial information to Southbank before it raised any money and were not required to specifically disclose the tax stoush or Mr McConnachie's bankruptcy, which has been annulled.
The statement of claim also criticises Southbank for rejecting their offer to buy the patents in a deal where they would have handed over $1.45 million in cash and given up their rights to be repaid $700,000 they were owed by Allotz.
The investors accuse Southbank of failing to act honestly and in good faith when it seized the patents, and allege Mr Galbally was "knowingly involved in Southbank's breach of its duty of good faith".
They also accuse Mr Galbally of being involved in unconscionable conduct by Southbank when it seized the patents and transferred them to Surgetech for free rather than selling them.
The investors want the patents transferred back to Allotz.
Mr Galbally has yet to file a defence and his and Southbank's lawyer, Trent Van Der Peet of CBW Partners, said that as a result "it would be entirely inappropriate for our clients to comment on the proceedings."
However, in an earlier letter to the ABC, Mr Van Der Peet said the claims made in the lawsuit were "without merit and will fail."
According to court documents, the majority of the money that flowed through Southbank and into Allotz — almost $3 million — came through an entity called Kirribilli Private Wealth.
Fisher, who is now known as Brayden Craig, is the driving force behind Kirribilli.
He had previously been arrested in Thailand in 2000 over a boiler-room scheme, which involved expatriates using high-pressure phone sales techniques to sell bogus shares to victims around the world, including in Australia. He was later fined over his role in the scam.
Other scams Fisher has been involved in include litigation financing group Centaur Litigation, which collapsed in 2014 owing investors $130 million after it was accused of being a Ponzi scheme.
His current whereabouts is unknown — the ABC last caught up with him walking into a strip club called "Thigh Bar" on Bangkok party strip Patpong Road in 2001.
Southbank's lawyer said the bank and Mr Galbally were introduced to Kirrilbilli and Mr Fisher (under the name Brayden Craig) by Mr McConnachie — Allotz's founder — and another Allotz director.
Before that "our clients had no knowledge of or relationship with them," Mr Van Der Peet said.
Meanwhile, the question of whether the patents themselves are worth billions or nothing is in the hands of a court in the US.
Surgetech launched an unsuccessful lawsuit against Uber in the US federal court system in June 2022, which is now the subject of an appeal.
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