On 10 February 2022, former registered liquidator, Amanda Young, from Lewisham, New South Wales, was sentenced by the New South Wales District Court to a total period of three years’ imprisonment to be served by Intensive Correction Order along with 350 hours of community service.
Between 10 December 2017 and 5 December 2018, Ms Young, while liquidator of Mamak Pty Ltd, transferred a total of $28,500 from the Mamak liquidation bank account to her own bank account. Ms Young also attempted to disguise this misappropriation of funds when she falsified internal records and tampered with an email from a legal professional.
Ms Young also caused three bank cheques totaling $165,362 to be drawn upon the St Gregory’s Armenian School Inc liquidation bank account while she was the manager of that liquidation. Ms Young then deposited the cheques into her own bank accounts for her own purposes.
Upon sentencing, Judge Shead said Ms Young’s conduct was ‘deliberate, continuing and egregious and entailed a significant degree of deception and guile, involving legal professionals in the hope it would divert the investigative gaze from the offender’.
ASIC Commissioner Sean Hughes said ‘ASIC is focused on ensuring that liquidators act honestly and that external administrations are conducted properly and with complete integrity, to ensure other people’s money is protected.’
The matter was prosecuted by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions after a referral from ASIC.
Background
Ms Young had previously pleaded guilty to one count of fraud relating to the liquidation of St Gregory’s and one count of dishonestly using her position as the liquidator of Mamak (21-008MR).
In sentencing, the Court took into account Ms Young’s admission to other charges but did not convict her for them, under section 16BA of the Crimes Act 1914 (Cth). Those charges related to Ms Young, while the liquidator of Admark Property Group Pty Ltd and Roller Poster Company Pty Ltd, transferring a total of $44,640 from the liquidation accounts for those companies to her own bank accounts.
On 3 June 2020, Ms Young’s registration as a liquidator was cancelled following a decision by a disciplinary committee (20-142MR), which was convened upon a referral from ASIC. That cancellation followed Ms Young resigning from all of her external administration appointments (and ASIC suspending her registration following a request by her 18-388MR), with replacement administrators appointed following orders made by the Supreme Court of New South Wales on 14 December 2018.