ASIC has disqualified Stefano De Blasi of Stafford Heights, Queensland, from managing corporations for four years, after his involvement in three failed companies.  

Mr De Blasi was a director of three companies between 2014 and 2020: 

• Casa Gusto Pty Ltd (ACN 141 576 703) (de-registered) (Casa),
• SMC Drummoyne Pty Ltd (ACN 600 533 140) (SMC), and
• Popina Kitchen Pty Ltd (ACN 613 288 314) (Popina).

All three companies were involved in the retail food industry in Sydney. 

In relation to SMC and Popina, ASIC was concerned that Mr De Blasi had traded the companies while insolvent, failed to meet statutory lodgement requirements to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and keep proper business records. 

The amount owed across the three companies totalled $2.8 million, including a total of $1.3 million to the ATO and $162,000 for workers’ compensation insurance and payroll tax. 

In deciding to disqualify Mr De Blasi, ASIC relied upon an initial statutory report lodged by liquidator Steven Kugel of The Insolvency Experts, who was appointed to Casa, and supplementary reports lodged by liquidators Andrew Sallway of BDO Australia, who was appointed to SMC and Adam Preiner of Integra Restructuring and Insolvency, who was appointed to Popina. Mr Preiner was assisted by funding from the Assetless Administration Fund, which is administered by ASIC, enabling the liquidator to investigate and report his fundings. 

Mr De Blasi is disqualified from managing corporations until 21 August 2027. 

Mr De Blasi’s co-director of the three companies, Edoardo Perlo, has also been disqualified for four years (refer 23-186MR). 

Background 

Section 206F of the Corporations Act allows ASIC to disqualify a person from managing corporations for a maximum period of five years if, within a seven year period, the person was an officer of two or more companies, and those companies were wound up and a liquidator provides a report to ASIC about each of the company’s inability to pay its debts. 

ASIC maintains a banned and disqualified persons register that provides information about people who have been disqualified from: 

• involvement in the management of a corporation,
• auditing self-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs), or
• practising in the financial services or credit industry.