Austrans is not the first business associated with O’Shea that has collapsed.Credit: Instagram
O’Shea, who took over the 37-year-old business from his father, said it had been sabotaged by a rival transport company, which he accused of illegally suspending its services to derail Austrans and its holding company, Vermile Pty Ltd.
“I categorically deny all the allegations in the liquidator’s report. The report is vague, outdated and contains inaccuracies concerning the inflated debt of $116 million which has been substantially exaggerated due to excited creditors adding a decimal point here, and a few extra zeros there,” O’Shea said.
“When the time comes for Cor Cordis to substantiate the debt of $116 million, I’ll be happy to work with them,” he said.
O’Shea, a former real estate agent and player agent with Nixon’s former company, Flying Start, told The Age he would relaunch bankruptcy action against his former boss, despite the case being dismissed in the Federal Court in November because he failed to attend.
“I didn’t even know about the last bankruptcy hearing, which is why I have changed lawyers. If you want to talk about Ricky Nixon, I’ll send you all the evidence,” he said.
O’Shea filed a creditor’s petition last year claiming he made an agreement with Nixon to sell five corporate hospitality tickets to the AFL grand final. The tickets were owned by O’Shea. Nixon denied any wrongdoing and claimed the debt was about $900, before the case was dropped.
Nixon told The Age O’Shea was “full of shit” and was legally unable to relaunch bankruptcy proceedings.
Last year, O’Shea was embroiled in other legal action in Queensland with former partner Rebecca Klodinsky, who alleged in court documents that he had failed to pay $425,000 as part of an out-of-court settlement of a financial dispute.
As part of the settlement deed from May 2024, O’Shea agreed to pay the funds by October 15 if he sold Austrans or shares in Vermile Pty Ltd, according to documents filed in the Brisbane District Court.
In his defence, O’Shea denied liability for the debt because he claimed Klodinsky had refused to sell their Gold Coast property on Chevron Island. O’Shea said the matter would be dealt with at an upcoming court hearing, while Klodinsky declined to comment.
In 2018, O’Shea’s previous real estate venture, Delmege O’Shea Pty Ltd, was also placed into liquidation, and never paid its former principal agent, Lynda White, $170,000 in unpaid commissions, superannuation and other entitlements.
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White told this masthead she was unsurprised that Austrans had collapsed with massive debts.
“At the time, I reported Greg to ASIC and the Tax Office. But obviously nothing was done, and here we are again,” White said.
O’Shea described White as a “disgruntled employee”, while correspondence from his solicitor to White’s lawyer states: “Any debt owing to your client is owing by Delmege O’Shea and not [by] our client.”
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