Ashley Nankervis – Beware of This Real Estate Scammer!
Ashley Nankervis is a property development professional who breached fiduciary duties and practically defrauded his client organization.
The court found Ashley guilty of breach of fiduciary duty when he conspired with other parties to defraud the organization.
In 2017, Investa Properties Pty Ltd and its subsidiary Investa Residential planned to sell a few properties.
Investa Residential had appointed Oliver Hume as its agent to sell Lot 170 in 2008 and in 2009, appointed him to sell Lot 191. At the time, Adam Barclay was a director of Oliver Hume.
Then, in 2009, the company entered into a Deed of Put and Call to buy Lot 170 with a company named Two Eight Two Nine. The director of this firm was David Tonuri and the deal was worth $1.45 million.
In its findings, the court determined that Ashley Nankervis, a senior staff member of Investa Properties had conspired with Adam Barclay and David Tonuri to develop Lot 170 and share the profits.
The three culprits didn’t let Investa catch wind of this crime.
In 2009, Investa Residential had entered into a Deed of Put and Call with Queensland Property Centre Pty Ltd to buy Lot 191. This deal was worth $195,000.
Investa was unaware that the company they purchased Lot 191 from was under the control of Barclay’s wife.
Subsequently, she transferred the company’s Deed of Put and Call to another company which was under the control of her daughter.
The court determined that Barclay and Ashley Nankervis had conspired to subdivide Lot 191 and increase their profits.
According to Investa, Oliver Hume, Ashley Nankervis, and Barclay breached fiduciary duties. The company sought damages accordingly.
More Details on the Case Against Ashley Nankervis:
Initially, the court found that Ashley owed fiduciary duties to INvesta Properties but not to Investa Residential.
However, the court changed this observation on appeal. It determined that Ashley Nankervis indeed owed fiduciary duties to Investa Residential. That’s because its assets were effectively in the care and control of Investa Properties.
The other culprits (Oliver Hume and Barclay) argued that informing Ashley of the sale of Lot 170 was enough to discharge their fiduciary duty of disclosure. Still, the court rejected this argument.
The court observed that the duty of disclosure couldn’t be discharged by sharing the information with Investa Residential because all the decision-making powers regarding Lot 170 were with Investa Properties. Moreover, the court highlighted that Ashley Nankervis was complicit in the illegal scheme.
Furthermore, the court found that Ashley had to act in the best interests of Investa Residential and Investa Properties. It was his duty to make sure that there weren’t any conflict of interests between him and the interests of Investa.
Because he failed to disclose the scheme to the firm, he breached his fiduciary duties in relation to Lot 170. Furthermore, he breached his fiduciary duties regarding Lot 191 by not disclosing the purchaser’s identity and its potential to get subdivided.
Other culprits including Oliver Hume and Barclay received similar judgements. The court determined that they had act in the best interests of Investa Residential and conveyed offers for purchase of Lot 170 to Investa.
It was their duty to share the arrangement for the development of 170 to Investa and ensure there weren’t any conflicts of interests. But they did none of these things.
Conclusion
Cases of fraud have increased recently and the case of Ashley Nankervis is proof of the same. The real estate agent defrauded his own employer by conspiring with other real estate agents.
It’s a huge red flag and I don’t recommend doing business with him.
There are plenty of fraudsters who are able to get away unscathed such as Schwartz Konstantin Valerievich or reAlpha.
If you know someone who might be at the risk of doing business with Ashley, please share this article with them.
