A MULTIMILLION-DOLLAR Merewether property owned by the wife of Funda director Nathan Wright has been listed for sale.
The four-bedroom, two-bathroom property in Ridge Street is being marketed by Green St Property Newcastle with a buyer's guide of between $2.25 million and $2.4 million.
The property is owned by Mr Wright's wife, Carol, who was an employee of Funda before the Merewether non-bank lender, also known as Ownright Pty Ltd, and related company Collaborating collapsed in December.
Funda, a fintech touted as an alternative to the big banks, and Collaborating were placed in voluntary liquidation by directors Mr Wright and Mark Owen in December. In April, liquidator Bradd Morelli, of Jirsch Sutherland, detailed how the companies may have been trading whilst insolvent for years before their collapse - Funda since mid-2019 and Collaborating since mid-2020.
The report also detailed allegations of a ponzi scheme, which have been strenuously denied by the directors.
Mr Morelli said it was possible that Collaborating had been insolvent since March 2020, triggered by notices to repay $3.6 million to a creditor. But the directors dispute this date, saying a new agreement was put in place to continue the loan.
"Based on creditors' claims to date and the company's books and records, it is estimated that the quantum of an insolvent trading claim may be in the vicinity of $2.45 million," the report reads in relation to Collaborating.
Despite the possibility of a claim against the directors, Mr Wright has previously told the Newcastle Herald that he never made a secret of the fact that he had few assets in his name.
"You'd also understand the majority of businessmen that are well structured and have been well advised by their accountants for decades generally don't own much," he said. "My structure hasn't changed for decades."
This was confirmed by Mr Morelli, who said he was unable to identify any property or significant assets owned by either director.
As the house is in Mrs Wright's name, any proceeds from the sale will not available to creditors. Despite this, creditors Richard and Marlene Lloyd and Don and Janine McLachlan issued a statement this week urging the Wrights to use the proceeds of the sale to help repay the companies' debts.
"We understand that upon the sale of the property the proceeds will firstly go to pay the bank mortgage, but we believe it's only fair and reasonable that equity beyond that, rather than being used to pay off any personal debt that Nathan and Carol may have, instead go to the Funda creditors to give those retirees a chance to lessen some of their debts," they said.
Mr Wright did not respond to a request for comment.
