Wife of ‘Gordon Gekko’ developer facing bankruptcy over unpaid rent
A bankrupt property developer who styles himself on Wall Street character Gordon Gekko has failed to pay rent on a luxury home in Hawthorn, with his wife now facing bankruptcy proceedings in the Federal Court.
Anton Joseph Wilson and wife Melinda Wilson signed a lease for the $15,000-per-month rental property in 2017, just months after Mr Wilson was declared bankrupt with debts of more than $61 million.
Anton Joseph Wilson (right) looked up to Wall Street character Gordon Gekko, as played by Michael Douglas.
Despite telling the bankruptcy trustee he had no assets, just $8700 in the bank, and resided in a caravan park in Geelong, Mr Wilson and his family spent almost three years in the five-bedroom home, replete with a theatre room, swimming pool and designer garden.
Mr Wilson, who co-opted Gekko’s slicked-back hairstyle, distinctive dress sense and even his signature catchphrase “greed is good”, was involved in a string of failed property developments and investment schemes.
In a nod to his idol, Mr Wilson even renamed several ill-fated ventures after fictional businesses in the movie Wall Street and its sequel Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps just days before they were put into external administration in 2015.
Two of the collapsing companies in his Mider property group were named after Anacott Steel and Teldar Paper, stocks that Michael Douglas’ character manipulated as part of an insider-trading scam in the hit 1987 film.
Anton and Melinda Wilson in 2010.Credit:Wayne Taylor
Others were rebranded Churchill Scwartz (sic) and Keller Zabel, the investment banks portrayed in the sequel.
Now Mrs Wilson, who replaced Mr Wilson as the director of several companies, including Mider, also faces bankruptcy action in the Federal Court of Australia after she and her husband failed to pay $103,671.22 in rent.
Court documents reveal the owners of the Kinkora Road property, Anne and Grant Brown, have been embroiled in a bitter and expensive legal bid to claw back the debt for the past 18 months.
Despite a directive to settle the debt by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal in September 2020, and a subsequent enforcement order by the County Court in June last year, the Wilsons are yet to pay up.
A solicitor acting for the landlords, Michael Pianta, claimed in court documents to have taken a range of measures to notify Mrs Wilson of the bankruptcy proceedings.
“All reasonable steps have been taken to bring the creditor’s petition to the notice of Mrs Melinda Wilson,” Mr Pianta said in an affidavit.
“These include engaging Network Process Service to personally serve the respondent, serving the documents on her previous and current legal representatives as well as serving the documents directly on the respondent by post and through electronic means.”
However, Mrs Wilson repeatedly denied receiving the creditor’s petition, before later claiming in an affidavit that she had arranged a loan to repay the debt.
“The petition and the prospect of becoming bankrupt have caused me, my husband Anton (who is currently an undischarged bankrupt) and my family a great deal of distress,” Mrs Wilson said in an affidavit on February 11.
The case will return to the Federal Court later this month, while Mr Wilson is also set to contest the recent extension of his bankruptcy for an additional five years.
In 2018, The Age revealed Mr Wilson had become the partner of a state government agency in a proposed luxury ski resort project, despite being disqualified from managing a corporation because of his bankruptcy.
Within weeks of the story, the Mount Hotham Alpine Resort Management Board announced that Mr Wilson and his property company had been dumped from the $26 million redevelopment.
Mr and Mrs Wilson did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
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