Even by A Current Affair’s standards, it’s rare to find someone who’s used as many aliases as Luke Hemmings.
To his thousands of social media followers, Hemmings is a high-flying Gold Coast recruitment specialist, carefully crafting the image of a corporate superstar.
Luke Hemmings presents a well-manicured image on social media, some claim it is not the truth. A Current Affair
But to multiple small business owners across the country, he represents something entirely different.
The 33-year-old has previously gone by the names of Dene Broadbelt, Dene Mussillon, Harrison O’Connor and Lucas Hemmings. All five names were linked to his bankruptcy notice more than a decade ago.
The former bankrupt and one-time radio DJ failed spectacularly as a festival promoter, recruiter and real estate agent, leaving behind a trail of financial disputes and failed businesses.
His checkered history stretches from Dubbo to Darwin, Canberra, Sydney, Perth, Goulburn and the NSW South Coast.
Hemmings has a checkered history and many different aliases. A Current Affair
Hemmings’ most recent rebrand has brought him to the Gold Coast, where he’s undergone a major physical transformation and become the managing director of White Fox Recruitment.
In one promotional video, the self-proclaimed “former Australian media personality” boasts of the business possessing “high levels of authenticity”.
Remaining “authentic” when you have used five different names is something we felt only Luke Hemmings could explain.
So when A Current Affair’s Dan Nolan confronted him about his past and present matters, he wasn’t very forthcoming, in particular the three fraud charges he’s currently facing in Southport Magistrates Court.
It is alleged he defrauded three companies out of a combined $547,000. The case was previously sent for mediation between the parties.
Last month, Luke Hemmings hired his own videographer to film his own court walk, before posting it to social media along with the caption, “full rockstar arrival and departure treatment”.
While Hemmings projects his lavish lifestyle and successes across his socials, local business owners claim they have been left picking up his bills.
Suzie Berkenbrock from Good Mates Removals says she was hired by Hemmings earlier this year to pack up and move his apartment.
Hemmings’ first meetings with customers were positive. A Current Affair
“He was super nice, very friendly, polite, and very responsive, so it seemed like a good client,” she said.
But after the work was completed, Suzie says the $5000 bill remained unpaid.
“We tried chasing him for months and months,” she said.
“All we got at the beginning were excuses, to a point that he just literally went blank. He just disappeared.”
It’s a shared story for Brisbane photographer Chris Knoblauch, who was hired to take promotional headshots for Hemmings’ corporate branding.
“He needed some photos urgently for advertising,” Knoblauch recalled.
“We photographed him, did a quick turnaround on the job, sent it out to him, and then that was pretty much the last we heard from him. Just absolute ghost.”
After weeks of waiting for his $900 invoice to be paid, Knoblauch decided to write off his loss, before spotting the very photo he shot plastered across the back of a bus.
“If I hadn’t paid for something, I certainly wouldn’t be using it,” Knoblauch said.
“Invoices were sent, it was apparently handed off to the accounts department, which the debt collector laughed and said doesn’t exist.”
Asked about the unpaid photography work, Hemmings claimed, “Well, that’s news to me”.
Retired freelance cameraman Noel Sadler has been tracking Hemmings for more than ten years after being left unpaid for production work.
Hemmings was tracked down by A Current Affair. A Current Affair
“He’s the kind of person who absolutely loves the limelight,” Sadler said.
“He has to be the most important person in the world. And the moment you challenge him on anything, he becomes the victim and you’re the one that’s causing all the problems.”
“He just doesn’t care about what he does to other people at all.”
At one stage, Hemmings had plans to release a book. A Current Affair
In 2015, operating under the name Dene Broadbelt, Hemmings issued press releases acknowledging he had been “run out of three towns in three years”, while promising to repay his debts and announcing an upcoming book titled Too Good To Be True.
The book was never published, though he later self-released a title in 2018 called Living Not Dreaming, which he claims was distributed only to family and friends.
His past also includes a 2018 court appearance where he pleaded guilty on mental health grounds to charges relating to unsolicited, harassing phone calls made to a former one-time personal trainer.
He was also once accused of faking his own death, by press release, which he strongly denies.
Despite the string of failed ventures, liquidations, and current legal proceedings, Hemmings rejects that his business career is a failure.
“I’m an everyday individual that owns a small business,” Hemmings said.
“People make mistakes in life. I’ve moved on and I’m trying to do my absolute best.”
“What he owes us isn’t a huge amount of money. But we can hopefully prevent other people from falling into the same position,” Chris Knoblauch told A Current Affair.
“If you employ somebody to do a job, you can at least pay them for it.”
Luke Hemmings is scheduled to return to court in October regarding the three fraud charges.