July 15, 2021

Ray Hadley - Radio 2GB Nightcap Warnings


‘Steer clear’: Investors warned off commune promoted by Pete Evans

Investors are being warned to steer clear of a community development promoted by celebrity Pete Evans in NSW’s Byron Hinterlands.

The development, originally called Bhula Bhula, had already wasted millions of investment money when its property developer went bankrupt two years ago. But now that same developer is back, has repackaged the land and called it “Nightcap”, and has enlisted Pete Evans to spruik the investment.

A Current Affair reporter Steve Marshall told Ray Hadley people’s lives had already been ruined by the development: 

“Imagine you put money into a company to buy shares in a plot of land in Tweed Valley... Problem is, people have paid their life savings … into a company to get a share of this beautiful land, and what do you know? The company goes belly up – the money disappears. Then, a few years later, the very same land they’ve paid for, is now up for sale again, as part of a bigger communal living arrangement being marketed by a bankrupt developer.”


July 12, 2021

Contempt Hearing Listed


A hearing to determine severity of punishment for contempt of Court regarding publications about Nightcap Village land-share venture has been listed in NSW Supreme Court for August 11. (Brennock v Norman 2017/00081825).

Following judgement in his favour, Nightcap's Adrian Brennock is requesting punishment by imprisonment for breach of injunctions prohibiting publication of facts imputing fraud and deceptive marketing to him in Nightcap Nightmare Blog.

Read more:


Supreme Court Hearing: Nightcap Nightmare



Contumacious Contempt of Court



July 01, 2021

Tweed Council Refuses Nightcap DA


Tweed Shire Council voted to reject an application by Nightcap Village Enterprises for approval to initiate the first stage of a prospective development involving multiple rural land sharing communities.

A report before Council recommended that the application be refused, because of significant adverse social and environmental impacts. 

An earlier Nightcap DA application was refused by Council on September 17, 2020, and an LEP determined that no further land sharing developments would be approved in the Tweed Valley. Even so, the developers filed a second DA application in January 2021, that, in stage 1, seeks approval for the upgrade of an existing private road with vegetation removal and construction of a site office and storage area. See Nightcap Village Concept Plan.

Councillors voted unanimously to refer the DA application to the Northern Regional Planning Panel. 

Mayor Chris Cherry said that the Nightcap concept, which proposes an intentional community with 392 owners separately responsible, is not an appropriate development for that site, and failed to meet the requirements of both Council and the NRPP

She said that if the Northern Regional Planning Panel decides the application does not fall within their jurisdiction, the application will return to Council for a decision and will be "refused on merit".
Development Application for Nightcap Village Refused




Nightcap Village Prohibited by Tweed Shire Council Standards


Daily Telegraph10 reasons why Pete Evans’ Nightcap Village is ‘prohibited'.


Promoted by celebrity chef Pete Evans, a proposed development that offers pre-DA "residential lots" in Nightcap Village, will go before Tweed Shire Council's planning panel today, July 1, seeking approval for Stage 1 road works and infrastructure. 

The recommendation comes just weeks after the project was found to be overvalued by $15 million. The application was initially costed at $37 million, but after Council removed unnecessary components the proposed capital investment was reduced to $21.9 million.

According to a report before Council, the application is prohibited by their standards and should be refused for ten reasons, including undue environmental harm and breach of maximum population density.

The Daily Telegraph reports:

"The controversial Nightcap Village is “prohibited” by Tweed Shire Council’s standards, according to a report to be tabled this week. It is expected the development application will be referred back to the Northern Regional Planning Panel for determination due its complexity, as recommended by council officers.

The application is for a Rural Land Sharing Community and associated works over 21 lots which are to be subdivided into 11 lots, on an area of 1584.34 hectares which seeks approval for 392 dwelling plots over 10 lots to create 10 interconnected Rural Land Sharing Communities on Kyogle Road, Mount Burrell.

The council staff recommendation is for the development application to be referred for determination based on this assessment report to the Northern Regional Planning Panel. If the panel decides it is not the determining authority, then the council’s general manager is delegated authority to determine the development application."

Nightcap's Pete Evans boasts 7 million followers

June 23, 2021

Nightcap Associate Eamon Lowe Admits Attempt to Pervert Justice





Real estate agent fell under spell of drug kingpin

A Gold Coast real estate agent fell under the control of a multimillion dollar drug syndicate 

The Courier Mail reports that Nightcap Village associate Eamon Lowe "pleaded guilty in Southport District Court on Tuesday to attempting to pervert the course of justice"

Judge Kefford sentenced Lowe to 18 months imprisonment with parole for presenting falsified documents to the court

In July 2020, the 45-year-old Eamon Lowe had been charged in Southport Court with money laundering as part of a criminal syndicate operating an alleged cryptocurrency scam that had duped investors of over $3 million. 

Police alleged that the criminal syndicate posed as multiple cryptocurrency sales companies which appeared to be legitimate, including Exmount Holdings Group, the Quid Pro Quo Foundation, the Atlas Group, AFG Associates Pty Ltd, Tradex123, Exmounttrading, Atlasfxgroup and Amazonaus. 

The companies offered victims a trial investment, promising generous returns if they invested more, but when investors tried to withdraw their funds, the money wasn't there. 

Police said the alleged crypto scam was just the tip of a criminal iceberg.


Eamon Lowe and Nightcap Village

Eamon Lowe has collaborated with Nightcap Development Team since 2016. He is a real estate agent and executive consultant with Christy's Prestige that, together with Ray White Real Estate, allegedly phoenixed property at 3222 Kyogle Rd as part of a proposed Nightcap Village development. 

His wife, Mikala Lynell Lowe, is director of the company Nightcap Village Holdings. She advertises prospective residential lots in Nightcap Village for sale.

Nightcap Realty has offered crypto currency sales of prospective residential lots in Nightcap Village since 2018.

June 06, 2021

Legal Disclaimer

In reading Nightcap Nightmare Blog, please be aware it is not intended to be imputed that claimants in contempt charges against the publisher are  engaged in a scam.

Nightcap Nightmare Blog is published by Free Radical, a Group of Creditors represented by Gi Linda (Gillian Norman). 

A defamation charge against Gillian Norman filed in 2017 was determined in 2020 in favour of the plaintiffs. As a result, the contested blogs and several posts in this Blog were removed by Google Corp at the behest of Nightcap lawyers.

The defamation litigation was followed in 2020 by a related contumacious contempt of Court claim against Gillian Norman by Adrian Brennock and Phillip Dixon. This is a criminal charge on trial in a civil jurisdiction with potential punishment by imprisonment, intended to prevent publication of Nightcap Nightmare Blog.

The purpose of this Blog is to provide information and opinions about developments and issues concerning a proposed land-share community located at Mt Burrell in the Northern Rivers, NSW. The venture was first called Bhula Bhula Village Community, then became Mt Warning Eco Village and is now renamed Nightcap Village, or Nightcap on Mingungbal. 

The Creditors' Group claims that during 2015-2017, investors lost over $2.5 million when marketing promises were not fulfilled. Litigation in pursuit of vindication is in process.
 

May 16, 2021

Pete Evans’ Nightcap Village Overvalued by Millions

"Pete Evans’ Nightcap Village overvalued by at least $7 million, to be determined by Council. The controversial project was found to contain a number of unnecessary components which once removed brought the cost down by at least $7 million."

Nightcap Nightmare Blog, Editor's Comment:

 

Valuation of the property advertised as "Nightcap Village" determines whether the development application is decided by the Regional Planning Panel, or whether the DA will be determined by normal procedures by Tweed Shire Council, which has previously rejected the DA application and ruled that no further DA applications may be made by Nightcap developers. The pending application was slipped in under the radar during Christmas break.

Re-assessment of the project, reducing the value by $7 million means that the DA application will be decided by Tweed Shire Council.

Community consultation was conducted by the Council for several months, finding intense local opposition to the venture. 

Comment on the Daily Telegraph news report by local resident Jenny Leunig:

"Yee haaaa! Fabulous news!!!"

"A proposed development for multiple rural land sharing communities in Mount Burrell and Kunghur area will no longer be decided by the State, after it was found to be overvalued and containing unnecessary components.

The planned development, known as Nightcap Village and spruiked by controversial celebrity chef Pete Evans, is for an “intentional community” which would cater for almost 400 dwellings.


The applicant has sought approval for $37 million worth of capital works, including an internal road network and solar panels with battery storage.

However, the cost listed by the proponent was advised to be under $30 million after unnecessary components were removed from the application, making it no longer the required value to be determined by the Northern Regional Planning Panel.

The developer is seeking approval for Stage One of the project which is an upgrade of the existing private road and associated earthworks, vegetation removal and site construction office and storage area.

Tweed Shire Council’s director of planning and regulation, Vince Connell, said both the New South Wales Department of Planning, Industry and Environment were aware of the change.

A development application proposing early works, related to a planned "intentional community" in the Mount Burrell and Kunghur area, has been lodged with Tweed Shire Council. 

“Council has reassessed the capital costs submitted by the proponent of DA21/0010 and removed components that should not have been included,” Mr Connell said.

“This reassessment has brought the development’s calculated capital costs to below $30 million and Council will therefore determine the DA.

“Based on the calculated capital investment value of the proposal and following legal advice, Council considers that it is the consent of authority for DA21/0010, not the Northern Regional Planning Panel,” Mr Connell said. 

A report will be submitted to the planning committee in their July 1 meeting for the Council’s determination of the DA."

Read More:

Tweed Echo - Satire on similar Nightcap Village Plans before Tweed Council in 2009

May 15, 2021

Supreme Court Hearing: Nightcap Nightmare

Charges of Contumacious Contempt of Court by Gillian Norman, (Gi Linda) publisher of Nightcap Nightmare Blog, were heard yesterday, May 14, in NSW Supreme Court before Justice Sackar. 

Gillian Norman was charged with breaking Court Orders that prohibit republication of defamatory imputations. Represented by barrister Kieran Smark SC, thanks to a referral from Justice Sackar to NSW Bar Association, Gillian Norman does not admit any contempt.

The criminal charges were brought by Adrian Brennock and Phillip Dixon, as principals in Nightcap Village, a prospective Northern Rivers land-share venture, in relation to a 2020 defamation judgement in their favour: Darwin v Norman [2020] NSWSC 357.

Justice Sackar deferred judgement and will give his decision at a second hearing that will determine penalty, if applicable.

Read more:

April 19, 2021

Hippyland on a Commercial Scale

Environmental Defender Scott Sledge heads local opposition to Nightcap "Hippyland"
Sydney Morning Herald describes local contention over a proposed land-share venture at Mt Burrell as "Hippyland on a commercial scale: Byron battle over suburb-sized commune”.

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/hippyland-on-a-commercial-scale-byron-battle-over-suburb-sized-commune-20210416-p57jv0.html

In a linked 2020 article by Sydney Morning Heraldthe same venture is pinned to the town of Nimbin and disparaged as a "hippy commune" with sloppy, misleading reporting about the outcome of a defamation trial regarding Blogs published by Free Radical: Darwin v Norman.

The defamation charges were brought by Adrian Brennock (AB) and Phillip Dixon against journalist Gillian Norman (Gi Linda) representative of creditors who in 2016 published claims that Brennock's "development team" defrauded them in a land-share scam. 

Judge Fagan determined that "folly not fraud" caused the "debacle".

An entirely unrelated picture of Nimbin's Hemp Embassy is used by Sydney Morning Herald to falsely depict the supposed "Blogger" as a dreadlocked male "hippy" and the Mt Burrell land-share development as a "hippy commune".

To anyone well informed about the Bhula-Bhula-Nightcap scheme, both these Sydney Morning Herald articles are sad examples of badly researched yellow journalism, using the alluring "hippylandpejorative to distract from many significant omissions and errors of fact.

RELATED ARTICLE

April 17, 2021

Contumacious Contempt of Court


A claim of "contumacious contempt of court" has been brought in NSW Supreme Court related to Nightcap Nightmare Blog, for revealing the "folly" of a prospective land-share scheme involving Adrian Brennock and Phillip Dixon.  


A SLAPP action by Brennock and Dixon against Gillian Norman (Gi Linda) has been ongoing since 2017. "SLAPP" is an acronym for a "Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation," intended to inflict sufficient harm by abuse of legal process to obstruct opponents of a dominant commercial interest.


A 2020 NSW Supreme Court judgement by Fagan J against Gillian Norman  in the defamation matter Darwin v Norman, determined that sale of Residential Lots by Mark Darwin, Adrian Brennock (aka Andrew Brennon, AB), Richard Moate and Phillip Dixon, with failure of consideration causing substantial loss and harm to investors, may be dismissed as "folly" not fraud


Fagan J's orders also include a permanent prohibition on publication of certain opinions about the Bhula-Bhula-Nightcap venture, including claims that Brennock and Dixon deceive and defraud investors who consequently loose their life savings.


Extract from Orders:

"2017/00081825-001 Statement of Claim: Mark James Darwin v Gillian Linda Norman 

Order Final judgment/order / Orders > made on 06 May 20 for proceeding 2017/00081825-001

2. The Defendant is permanently restrained from publishing or republishing, or causing to be published or republished, any matter which conveys the following imputations, or any imputations which are not substantially different than the following imputations:

  1. (a)  Adrian Brennock defrauded investors in the Bhula Bhula and Nightcap Village communities.

  2. (b)  Phillip Dixon defrauded investors in the Bhula Bhula and Nightcap Village communities.

  3. (c)  Adrian Brennock engaged in misleading or deceptive marketing of residential lots in the Bhula Bhula and Nightcap Village communities.

  4. (d)  Phillip Dixon engaged in misleading or deceptive marketing of residential lots in the Bhula Bhula and Nightcap Village communities."

Read Full Injunctions here


Nightcap promotors team celebrate their first crypto sale
 

Brennock and Dixon accuse Gi Linda of causing them financial lossThey claim it would be a breach of Court Orders if readers could infer from Nightcap Nightmare Blog that, from 2014 until 2021, investors have been deceived and misled by Brennock and Dixon in a fraudulent land-share venture involving sale of Residential Lots without development consent.


The contempt charge, Darwin v Norman was started in 2020 by Brennock and Dixon under the name of Mark Darwin who discontinued his defamation claim in 2019: [2020] NSWSC 357


The contumacious contempt trial is listed for May 14, 2021, in NSW Supreme Court before Judge Sackar. Gillian Norman, represented by barrister Kieran Smark SC, thanks to a referral from NSW Bar Association, does not admit the charges.


Nightcap Community acolytes are assured by promotors that suppressed information published online in Nightcap Nightmare Blog will be removed by Court order.   



April 15, 2021

Nightcap Phoenix

Phoenixing of companies is inspired by a mythical bird's legendary ability to return to life after self-immolation on a fiery altar. 

Australia's corporate watchdog, ASIC, defines phoenixing as a move by company directors to avoid liability to creditors by winding-up a debt-ridden company and transferring assets to a new, related company continuing the same business.

In the recent liquidation of company Wollumbin Horizons in Qld Federal Court, two creditors, Gillian Norman and Ron Berry, filed a cross-claim alleging that phoenix action was in process, facilitated by Vincents' administrator Steven Staatz. 

The proposed Federal Court class action involved fourteen aggrieved creditors of company director and sole shareholder Adrian Brennock, (Aka Andrew Brennon, AB)

Phoenixed property, 3222 Kyogle Rd, Mt Burrell
Creditors claim co-proprietary rights to a 640 acre farm at 3222 Kyogle Rd, Mt Burrell, the sole asset of the company in liquidation.

In 2015, creditors had paid funds into the trust account of Mullumbimby lawyer Wrothwell Wall, in exchange for promises of co-ownership of land and a Residential Lot on the property purchased with their funds. 

The marketing representations were not fulfilled and investors' trust funds disappeared without any accounting by lawyer Wrothwell Wall. Litigation in regard to this negligent "folly" is ongoing. 

Judge Derrington, deciding that evidence of phoenixing a company to divest liability to creditors with the help of an official of the Court, would be too "scandalous" to be heard, summarily dismissed the cross-claim and imposed a suppression order on the proposed class action against liquidator Staatz.

The Federal Court case, Staatz v Berry, was begun in 2018 by the liquidator, but judgement was not made until 2020, when Derrington J appointed Steven Staatz as receiver of the contested property, with a lien over the land. An application by Norman and Berry to appeal the decision was summarily refused in the Appeal Court.

From 2015-2021, Brennock used the property to leverage expansion of the venture and acquired extensive shareholdings. 

With creditors claiming unpaid debts totalling over $2.6 million by 2017,  Brennock then executed an unregistered mortgage over the property, overvalued the land by $1 million and signed an undated contract of sale with associate Phillip Dixon.

Disenfranchised creditors who paid purchase money for the Mt Burrell property in 2015 were promised by company director, Adrian Brennock that if they allowed his mortgage to provide him with "vendor finance" to buy the land back, some favoured creditors would receive full recompense by December 2017. 

Gillian Norman and Ron Berry advised other creditors that they believed the proposed internal sale was intended as a phoenix move to wipe out company debts, while Brennock and Dixon continued to market interests in the company's land asset through insolvent trading. 



Ignoring these warnings of apparent phoenixing, other creditors bit the bait and continued trusting vapid promises, even when the supposed restitution of investors' funds was not made in 2017.

Brennock was bankrupted in 2018 and transferred his shareholdings in the venture to his wife. The $1 share by which he owned and controlled the property purchased with creditors' funds was transferred to Jason Bettles, a bankruptcy trustee at Worrels who has recently been implicated by ASIC in allegedly facilitating the phoenixing of multiple companies.

From 2017-2020, for four years the company liquidation languished, as bankrupt Brennock and associates continued profiting from trading with the insolvent company's land asset. 

For the creditors, any remnant hope of restitution evaporated along with the funds haemorrhaging from bank accounts to cover exhorbitant legal costs.

The land was sold at auction in 2020 on behalf of Vincents liquidator, Steven Staatz, 
by Ray White and boutique agency, Christies PrestigeAgent and executive Consultant to Christie's Prestige is Brennock's Nightcap Associate, Eamon Lowe, whose wife, Mikyla Lowe is director of the company Nightcap Holdings.

In a promotional video published by Nightcap Realty, Brennock removes the "For Sale" sign from  3222 Kyogle Rd, as he boasts "We bought it back ourselves."

The property was ostensibly purchased by Brennock's Nightcap associate Derek Zillman, but payment was not made until six months later by Brennock's Nightcap associate, company director Cherie Stokes, under the name "Cherie Noble". Creditors were informed that the property had been purchased by the company NCV Enterprises (Night Cap Village Enterprises), whose shareholders are Derek Zillman, Mark McMurtrie and Kristy Brennock.

Derek Zillman- Nightcap finance manager
In a 2020 Nightcap promotional video, 
Derek Zillman informs potential investors that the properties involved will not be held by NCV Enterprises, but will be owned by his company, Yidaki Capital. He assures investors that "everything is ironclad" under a "rural land-sharing scheme":
 
"The entire community owns everything and we will have a primary coupling, which is the enterprise Yidaki Pty Ltd that will own all of those landholding entities - and they are the ones progressing the approval. And then people buy shares within that company."

By 2021 some creditors of Brennock's company Wollumbin Horizons were informed by Vincents liquidator, Steven Staatz, that they would not receive any restitution. Others still keep dreaming of a few cents in recompense, but it's more than evident now, after four years waiting, that creditors can expect to receive nothing.

By transfer of property from Wollumbin Horizons to a related company, in which AB's wife, Kristy Brennock is a shareholder, the phoenix move warned about by Gillian Norman and Ron Berry is now complete: NCV Enterprises has risen from the ashes of Wollumbin Horizons to evade liability to creditors while continuing the same business of selling promises of Residential Lots without development approval.

Receiver Steven Staatz has been asked three times in emails from creditors to respond to concerns about profit from insolvent trading and phoenixing. He has not responded. 

The Creditors' Group with screen name Free Radical comprises the original investors who lost life savings in the venture. The Creditors' Group claims Certificate of Title is void due to alleged illegal phoenix activity, and contests the validity of any transfer of property ownership.

Read More:

Phoenixing of property from Wollumbin Horizons to NCV Enterprises enables the promotors of the Nightcap land-share scheme to continue the same business of selling pre-DA dwelling sites, while divesting liability to creditors from 2014-2021.    

 

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