Caveats lodged on Michael Dunjey properties as court-appointed insolvency accountants probe $140m debt claims

Court-appointed insolvency accountants are slapping legal padlocks on 20 Perth properties as they probe $140 million of debt claims linked to mountaineer-turned-life coach Michael Dunjey. In caveat documents lodged on Wednesday, provisional liquidators of Mr Dunjey’s Ascent Investment and Coaching claim Ascent paid mortgage, rates and maintenance bills for properties owned by the investment promoter and family members. The caveats cover properties including Mr Dunjey’s Applecross home, his nearby office in Kishorn Road, units in Gosnells and a Point Walter Road, Bicton, block bought by his wife Aimee in August last year for $3.5m. Deloitte Insolvency lodged the caveats on Wednesday as it prepares a report for the Federal Court ahead of Mr Dunjey’s legal showdown next week with the Australian Securities and Investment Commission. The financial services regulator has warned that potentially more than 200 people are in an allegedly unlawful managed investment scheme run by Mr Dunjey’s flagship company. Mr Dunjey declared himself bankrupt this week in the face of personal guarantee claims made by people who had helped bankroll Ascent Investment. Despite rejecting ASIC’s allegations, Mr Dunjey agreed on May 31 the Deloitte Insolvency team should take control of Ascent in the face of $140m in debt claims. ASIC has claimed Ascent Investment has just $2m of assets to pay its debt. Mr Dunjey borrowed money from business, church, school and social connections for more than a decade to fund what he said were low-risk, high-return systems for investment in shares. The Federal Court is to hear an ASIC application on Wednesday and Thursday next week for Ascent’s allegedly unlawful scheme to be put under the control of liquidators. ASIC has claimed in the Federal Court big chunks of money Ascent raised were not invested but used to pay loan and credit card bills linked to the company and Mr Dunjey. Mr Dunjey has denied running an unlawful managed investment scheme.