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August 12, 2026 \u2014 5:09pm<\/p>\n
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n Jon Adgemis\u2019 former chief financial officer has told a court about the severe financial stress of running businesses which the failed pub baron used to fund a lavish lifestyle in the lead-up to the $1.8 billion collapse of his hospitality empire.<\/p>\n Alexander Andruska, a Woollahra councillor who worked with Adgemis since 2012, told a Federal Court examination into his former boss\u2019s financial affairs that it was a \u201ccomplete mystery\u201d what happened to money invested in the former KPMG partner\u2019s Public Hospitality Group.<\/p>\n Adgemis declared bankruptcy last October owing $1.8 billion to creditors. Lawyers for liquidators BRI Ferrier are currently hearing evidence from a string of witnesses related to his companies.<\/p>\n Andruska\u2019s evidence painted a picture of a tangled web of businesses, under near constant financial stress, but where Adgemis used funds to maintain a lavish lifestyle.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was always under financial stress because Jon would always overcommit \u2026 he had an exorbitant lifestyle that he had to maintain,\u201d Andruska said.<\/p>\n Related Article He said that Adgemis had \u201cabsolutely\u201d used his group of companies to continue funding that lifestyle, which included buying a yacht once owned by Shirley Temple and a string of luxury cars which have since been sold to pay off his creditors.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of it was dealing with one disaster after another,\u201d Andruska said of managing the finances of Adgemis\u2019 companies<\/p>\n Andruska, who was recently employed as a staffer for Liberal senator Andrew Bragg, said that trying to find out where all the money went was a \u201cthankless job\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was very stressful. I wanted to bloody blow my brains out,\u201d he told the court. He also said that the stress had manifested in \u201cdepression and excessive drinking\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cJon had a reputation as the worst communicator in Sydney,\u201d Andruska said.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat Jon would do was have these information silos. Everyone would have a little of the picture, but nobody would have it in its entirety,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n This week\u2019s hearings have revealed where at least some of that money came from. The court heard that the Australian Taxation Office was examining around $1 billion in spending as part of an alleged sham tax scheme, where one of Adgemis\u2019 businesses, JAGA Group Constructions, had received $77 million in GST refunds.<\/p>\n Andruska said the GST refunds were essential to the continued running of Adgemis\u2019 businesses.<\/p>\n \u201cI do not think the company would have been able to trade at all but for the $77 million,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cHe [Adgemis] was aware that they were dodgy claims,\u201d Andruska said of the GST refunds. Asked why he had not taken further steps to verify the underlying claims made to the tax office, Andruska said: \u201cJon\u2019s a force of nature, people just do what he tells them to do.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s like having the frog in the boiling pot of water. You just don\u2019t realise it\u2019s boiling until it is,\u201d Andruska said of Adgemis\u2019 alleged scheme.<\/p>\n Adgemis created Public Hospitality Group in 2021 with designs on becoming a hospitality mogul to rival Merivale\u2019s Justin Hemmes.<\/p>\n He bought 22 properties across Sydney and Melbourne<\/a> including The Norfolk in Redfern and Alexandria\u2019s Camelia Grove Hotel in a debt-fuelled pandemic-era buying spree.<\/p>\n But the business, which relied on cheap cash and high-interest private credit loans, quickly began to struggle with repayments, and teetered on the brink of collapse before it was rescued in the form of a $400 million lifeline from Deutsche Bank in early 2024.<\/p>\n Related Article In October last year, Adgemis declared himself bankrupt<\/a>, with debts of $1.8 billion, leaving behind a lengthy list of creditors including hundreds of former hospitality staff, Monaco-based businessman Richard Gazal, Deutsche Bank and the Australian Taxation Office.<\/p>\n Adgemis was due to front the liquidator\u2019s examinations last week, but his lawyers are seeking to argue that his appearance is an abuse of process. He is also trying to get his examination held in private.<\/p>\n Andruska told the court that days before he was due to give evidence, Adgemis had asked him to take similar steps to delay facing the examination.<\/p>\n \u201cHe said that I should be bringing a lawyer and \u2026 I should be doing the motions he did the other day to delay his hearing.\u201d<\/p>\n Andruska did not have a legal representative. Andruska is a long-time Adgemis lieutenant, with the businessman appearing at a party to celebrate his election to Woollahra Council in 2024. That year, Adgemis reportedly gave Andruska a 2016 Mercedes GLA 180 in August 2024 in repayment for some expenses he\u2019d covered.<\/p>\n Now, Andruska is one of Adgemis\u2019 many disgruntled creditors. \u201cI lent money to Jon in 2016, I never got that money back,\u201d he said. \u201cI have outstanding wages from 2017-18 that have never been paid.\u201d<\/p>\n If you are worried about your own or someone else\u2019s mental health, you can contact the Mental Health Line on 1800 011 511. The Business Briefing newsletter delivers major stories, exclusive coverage and expert opinion. Sign up to get it every weekday morning<\/a>.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"Jon](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/6d75ab778671ae3e620ef7e726a93baa2e1633bb.jpeg\")
Jon Adgemis\u2019 business associates have been quizzed over the failure of his pub empire.Dominic Lorrimer<\/p>\n![\"Jon](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1786536258_806_6d75ab778671ae3e620ef7e726a93baa2e1633bb.jpeg\")
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Kishor Napier-Raman<\/a> is a senior business writer for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. Previously he worked as a CBD columnist and reporter in the federal parliamentary press gallery.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"August 12, 2026 \u2014 5:09pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":852556,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99],"class_list":["post-852555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=852555"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852555\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/852556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=852555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=852555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=852555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}