Ricky Hirsch: WA investors scammed by phony Perth property conman furious at inaction of watchdog

WA investors scammed out of their life savings by phony property king Ricky Hirsch say they’ve been badly let down by Australia’s “toothless” corporate watchdog despite previous claims by top officials that investigating situations like theirs was a top priority. The scores of mum and dad investors, collectively owed $16.54 million, fear they will never know what happened to their money with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission not prepared to fund a bank tracing investigation. They also claim it has allowed Mr Hirsch escape any accountability by “hiding overseas” where they suspect his lavish lifestyle has been supported by the millions of dollars he tricked out of them. Mr Hirsch has been based in Dubai since leaving Perth, but he frequently flies to other locations with his Russian wife Lilya. The Sunday Times believes he’s presently in South Africa. Mrs Hirsch recently posted snaps, including on safari there, on her Instagram account though she’s careful not to show her fugitive husband in photos or videos. Nine of Mr Hirsch’s companies, which were all part of his much-hyped Fulfil The Dream property development empire, are presently being wound up. The liquidator for all nine entities applied to ASIC late last year for funds to undertake further investigations into each, but was declined for all but one. The regulator provided just $11,550 for the liquidator to provide a supplementary report on Fulfil The Dream to assist it in determining whether to pursue orders against Mr Hirsch to ban him from being a company director. Mr Hirsch, who had earlier been communicating with the liquidator, has so far ignored demands for him to pay $4m owed to one of his insolvent companies, FTD Construction. He’s also snubbed a liquidator’s demand for $259,000 for insolvent trading. Liquidator Mathieu Tribut last week told creditor he did not plan to “pursue the matter further” unless more funding was forthcoming given the high costs required in tracking down Mr Hirsch and attempting to take action against him outside Australia. ASIC had requested a supplementary report to help it assess whether to pursue director banning orders, he said, but given the lack of money in the accounts, he applied for financial help — which ASIC knocked back. “ASIC subsequently advised that they did not intend to carry out further investigations into the affairs of the company and the conduct of its officers,” Mr Tribut said. This is despite previous comments from ASIC officials that unscrupulous property investment schemes were “a key enforcement priority”. FTD Investors Group spokeswoman Miki Smith said ASIC was failing in its role. “The system is clearly broken or ASIC has given up,” she said. “The lack of accountability is enabling white-collar crime in this country. If you inflict life-changing physical injuries on someone you face charges, but inflict life-changing financial and mental injuries via dodgy business dealings, and you’re not.” ASIC said it had provided to the liquidator “the maximum amount of funding available for director banning grants from the Assetless Administration Fund.” “This was for the purposes of the liquidator completing and lodging a supplementary report with ASIC; which has been completed,” a spokesperson said. “We have reviewed the liquidator’s reports in accordance with our normal processes.” Regarding possible future actions, the spokesperson added: “ASIC is unable to comment on potential investigations or regulatory actions.” The Sunday Times understands that liquidators can apply for funding specifically for bank tracing. The $4m owed to FTD Construction Pty Ltd was for a loan to the company that was used to purchase Mr Hirsch’s former oceanfront home on West Coast Drive, Marmion. After defaulting on the monthly repayments in May 2022, the mansion was re-possessed by mortgagee Prime Capital Securities. It sold at auction in February for $3,050,000. But a dwelling at the rear of the site remains in Mr Hirsch’s name, according to Landgate records. A court decision on the property is imminent, with Prime Capital alleging it was owed $2.1 million over the lot. The Marmion property was one of more than a dozen sites — most of them completely undeveloped — that investors sank millions of dollars on the premise they would be built and sold, with all the profits flowing back to them. Instead they didn’t get any returns and when the house of cards collapsed, all the sites were possessed by highest-ranked mortgagees. Other secured lenders also lost money on the highly-leveraged properties. The 138 known investors are mostly from WA. Many were encouraged by Mr Hirsch and his sales team to raid their superannuation funds to invest. They claim Mr Hirsch fed them a stream of lies. Many received project updates to make them believe progress was being made on their projects, when the reality was the opposite. After examining the ruins of the business, the liquidator was unable to reconcile thousands of transactions. Transactions between Mr Hirsch’s companies had “not been appropriately recorded with sufficient detail, or not recorded at all”. Mr Tribut cited “alleged fraud” as potentially one of the reasons for the failure of Fulfil The Dream and its connected entities. He said there appeared to be no accounting in regard to the joint-venture agreements with investors. “Several personal bank accounts associated with the director were also recorded in the company’s data file and it is unclear why,” he said. During the period Fulfil The Dream was allegedly insolvent, Mr Hirsch paid for two lavish wedding ceremonies in Bali, his residence in Dubai and numerous holidays, including in the Greek islands, Maldives and New York. Mr Hirsch placed advertising features in online publications, which portrayed him as a global property tycoon and real estate visionary. One claimed he had plans to go big in New York and Miami. “I work around the clock, sourcing the most exceptional development sites in the world,” he said told. “Our vision is to create a city-defining, ultra-luxury address with New York-style, whole-floor, tri-level residences.” Meanwhile, back in the real world he was struggling to build simple apartments in Bassendean. What he did build was so dangerously defective, the council ordered it be demolished.