Latest news with #Misquitta
Sydney Morning Herald
a day ago
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
Childcare boss emerges to face criminal charge
The boss of the collapsed Genius chain of childcare centres is hoping to escape conviction in a Melbourne court after pleading guilty to a financial offence. Embattled daycare entrepreneur Darren Misquitta has admitted to one charge of dealing with property suspected of being the proceeds of crime while acting as a business consultant in 2019. Under the little-used law, a person is guilty of an offence, carrying up to two years in jail, if they are found to have possessed money or goods reasonably suspected of being the proceeds of crime. Misquitta's chain of 39 Genius childcare centres across the country collapsed in June, leaving workers, creditors and tax authorities chasing debt. The administration processes of the various companies behind the group are still playing out. Loading The Gold Coast-based businessmen, who was declared bankrupt last month, admitted in court on Thursday to one count of dealing with the proceeds of crime after he unknowingly handled $120,000 from a client of his business consultancy in 2019 that was later found to have been fraudulently obtained. Misquitta's barrister, Sam Tovey, told magistrate Patrick Allan on Thursday that the offending had been at the lower end of culpability and there was no evidence of 'deliberate fraudulent behaviour'. Tovey said that because of his client's lack of previous convictions, the court should consider a non-conviction, arguing that another person found to have committed the same offence related to the fraud had escaped conviction.
The Age
a day ago
- Business
- The Age
Childcare boss emerges to face criminal charge
The boss of the collapsed Genius chain of childcare centres is hoping to escape conviction in a Melbourne court after pleading guilty to a financial offence. Embattled daycare entrepreneur Darren Misquitta has admitted to one charge of dealing with property suspected of being the proceeds of crime while acting as a business consultant in 2019. Under the little-used law, a person is guilty of an offence, carrying up to two years in jail, if they are found to have possessed money or goods reasonably suspected of being the proceeds of crime. Misquitta's chain of 39 Genius childcare centres across the country collapsed in June, leaving workers, creditors and tax authorities chasing debt. The administration processes of the various companies behind the group are still playing out. Loading The Gold Coast-based businessmen, who was declared bankrupt last month, admitted in court on Thursday to one count of dealing with the proceeds of crime after he unknowingly handled $120,000 from a client of his business consultancy in 2019 that was later found to have been fraudulently obtained. Misquitta's barrister, Sam Tovey, told magistrate Patrick Allan on Thursday that the offending had been at the lower end of culpability and there was no evidence of 'deliberate fraudulent behaviour'. Tovey said that because of his client's lack of previous convictions, the court should consider a non-conviction, arguing that another person found to have committed the same offence related to the fraud had escaped conviction.
The Age
09-06-2025
- Business
- The Age
Playtime's over: Historic mansion linked to troubled childcare outfit sells for over $5 million
Historic Toorak mansion Cloyne, a place with an illustrious past and controversial near present, has sold for more than $5 million. The five-bedroom, five-bathroom and four-car residence was built in 1926 and designed by renowned architect Harold Desbrowe Annear. It includes a luxurious outdoor pool flanked by colonnades, a porte cochere over the sweeping driveway and a ballroom accessible from the garden. Handy. The Toorak Road mansion also has a cellar, sunroom, sauna, studio and timber-panelled upstairs. Cloyne was built for Louis Nelken, who as social legend has it, parlayed a position as a butler to the royal family into Melebrity status, marrying the daughter of an early Victorian chief justice. Their Melbourne Cup eve parties were frequently attended by the Baillieus, Horderns et al and kept 'The Life of Melbourne' column in The Argus, a CBD forebear, busy over many a year. Jellis Craig Stonnington director Nathan Waterson was coy on the exact sale price but told CBD the home sold to a local family ahead of the planned weekend auction for a price above the $4.75 million to $5.23 million guide price. A great result for a property that has been lying vacant and needs a massive renovation. More recently, the property was the family home of controversial childcare centre boss Darren Misquitta, who bought it for his wife and two children in 2016 before transferring it to his wife, Karina, several years later. Misquitta was in the news recently as a director of Genius Childcare, a nationwide childcare centre chain that operated six centres in Melbourne. In March the chain was taken over by administrators who say Misquitta and the string of 37 companies he controls owe $38 million in debts – including a $94,000 Coles grocery bill. And the Tax Office says one company, formerly known as Genius Learning, owes it more than $10 million. But the home was not sold by Misquitta. It had been repossessed by mortgagee Oak Capital, which is controversial for different reasons. The company told CBD: 'Thank you for your enquiry. As a matter of policy, we do not comment on individual lending arrangements or enforcement matters.'
