Private lenders, brokers and liquidators. It’s a murky world.

Beware of insolvency practitioners with great finance deals. Kimberley Pearls tour operator Daniel Brown found out the hard way. Stephanie Tran reports.

In 2024, tour boat operator Daniel Brown took out a loan for $470,000. Two years later, the loan had ballooned to more than $1.2m as receivers from Hall Chadwick seized his tour boat and family homes were put at risk.

The Kimberly Coast tourism operator says he is on the verge of losing everything after a loan he took out to purchase a charter vessel ballooned from less than $500,000 to more than $1.2m, leaving his business in receivership and family members’ homes on the line.

Daniel Brown, the sole director of Kimberly Pearl Charters, has lodged a complaint with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) alleging he was drawn into a predatory lending and receivership arrangement involving a network of private lenders, brokers and insolvency practitioners.

The complaint alleges a coordinated lending and receivership structure involving brokers, lenders and insolvency practitioners that extracted fees while pushing borrowers toward enforcement.

A rescue package?

The dispute centres on the Kimberly Pearl, a charter vessel that served as the company’s primary revenue-generating asset. Since receivers were appointed, the vessel has been seized and listed for auction despite ongoing negotiations between Brown and the receivers. 

Founder of Unhappy Banking, Geoff Shannon, is representing Brown. He’s told MWM that he has registered a PPSR security interest on the Kimberly Pearl on behalf of Brown, halting the auction.

“I hope common sense prevails,” Shannon said. Brown says the loan has left his livelihood in ruins. “What started off as less than $500,000 in 2024 is now more than $1.2m, everything I’ve ever worked for on the line – and these guys can just walk in and do that. It’s just wrong.”

A loan that spiralled

According to documents reviewed by MWM, Brown signed a loan facility in July 2024 with a lender connected to the private lending group Blackbird.

Brown had been attempting to purchase the vessel but was about $500,000 short after a planned house sale fell through following flooding at his property on the NSW mid-north coast.

His home had been insured for $530,000, but Brown says the delay in receiving insurance funds forced him to seek short-term financing to complete the purchase. Brown’s stepfather, James McMahon, signed on as a guarantor on the loan.

The loan carried a short initial term and monthly repayments of $15,520. Brown says he fell only three repayments behind before receivers were appointed. 

“I hadn’t heard from anyone – no emails, no phone calls,” he said. “Next thing I know they’ve appointed receivers.”

Brown says there were enough funds in the account to make the payments when it was seized.

Onerous conditions

Loan documents show the facility was later refinanced through another entity within the Blackbird lending network.

The refinancing came with additional conditions, including a requirement that Brown install a 25% shareholder in his company who could provide real property as security.

Julie Anne Rutledge, a pensioner and the mother of Brown’s partner, was subsequently installed as a shareholder and provided a mortgage over her home along with an unlimited personal guarantee.

Brown alleges the structure was designed to classify the loan as a business facility rather than consumer credit, allowing lenders to avoid protections under the National Consumer Credit Protection Act.

Rutledge had recently undergone treatment for breast cancer and had no commercial connection to the business beyond her relationship with Brown’s family.

Blackbird class action

Blackbird Capital is currently the subject of an ongoing class action investigation by Adero Law is currently investigating Blackbird Capital as the potential subject of a class action.

The law firm states that their preliminary investigation suggests that “some loans made by Blackbird may have been represented as business or working-capital facilities but were in reality used for non-business purposes, or secured in ways that placed personal guarantors at risk — including by mortgaging their homes.

“We believe that certain practices by Blackbird may have exposed vulnerable borrowers and guarantors to disproportionate financial risk, including the possibility of losing their homes in the event of default.”

A revolving receivership

The complaint filed with ASIC alleges the lending arrangement formed part of a broader pattern involving multiple related entities and repeated receivership appointments.

Documents show insolvency practitioner and managing partner of Hall Chadwick, Richard Albarran, was appointed receiver to the company on two separate occasions by different entities within the Blackbird lending network.

Company records indicate those entities share a registered address in Parramatta with other associated firms.

The drawdown notice for refinancing the loan included a line item allocating $100,000 from the new loan to pay receiver fees that had accrued during the first appointment.

A virtuous circle not

The complaint argues this created a “circular funding pipeline” in which borrowers were lent additional funds specifically to pay receivership costs before the same receiver was reappointed.

In February, receivers seized the Kimberly Pearl and took control of the company’s bank account.

Brown says the move immediately halted operations and has put upcoming bookings in limbo.

The boat, the centrepiece of Brown’s tourism business, has since been listed for auction despite ongoing negotiations between the parties.

MWM understands that Brown has procured the funds to pay out the loan and seeks to deposit them in a court trust. However, he has not come to an agreement with the receivers.

Mr Albarran declined to comment on the matter.

Charity cruises in limbo

Brown says the loss of the vessel has prevented him from running charity cruises he has hosted for years in support of organisations including local women’s shelters and children’s cancer charities, the Kids Cancer Project and the Kyle Andrews Foundation.

“We’ve raised thousands for various charities through these cruises,” Brown said.

“These causes are very important to me and are a key part of what drives us as a company. A lot of people close to me have been affected by cancer, I hope to be able to continue to support these causes.”

Among the families Brown has supported through charity cruises is the Mussio family, whose son Tom was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of nine.

Tom’s father, Troy Mussio, said the family had been living through an extremely difficult period when they received an unexpected call offering them a place on one of Brown’s charity voyages.

“We had just moved to Victoria when my son was diagnosed. We had no family, no friends, nothing. It was really catastrophically difficult,” Mussio said.

Tom spent months in hospital undergoing intensive treatment, including blood transfusions and chemotherapy at Monash Children’s Hospital in Melbourne.

“There was a week there where I thought he was going to die,” Mussio said. “He got very sick, very nauseous, lost all his hair, lost a lot of weight. It was just awful.”

At the time, the family was struggling financially while juggling hospital stays, work and caring for their other child.

“We were going broke just trying to pay the mortgage and rent and keep everything afloat,” Mussio said.

About 18 months into Tom’s treatment, the family received a call from a friend telling them about a charity trip aboard Brown’s vessel.

Within a week, they had travelled across the country to join the voyage.

Brown hosted the Mussio family and another family whose child had terminal cancer on a 10-day trip that would normally have cost about $25,000.

For Tom, the trip offered a rare escape from hospital life.

“It makes me emotional just talking about it. It gave us time,” Mussio said. “My son and I had a chance to just spend time together outside the hospital and reconnect. He got to forget about the cancer, the treatments, the needles and the sickness. For that time, he just got to be a kid again. Seeing the smile on his face was incredible.”

Mussio said the crew also volunteered their time for the voyage, “That’s the sort of guy Dan is. The whole crew donated their time.”

Watching Brown now face the possible loss of his business has been difficult, Mussio said, “To see him go through this just absolutely makes my blood boil.”