The Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia has today dismissed appeals brought by Master Wealth Control Pty Ltd (DG Institute) and its sole Director, Ms Dominique Grubisa, against findings they were involved in making misleading representations in the promotion and sale of two wealth seminar programs.
On 9 April 2024, the Federal Court found that DG Institute made false or misleading representations to consumers in the promotion and sale of two education programs called Real Estate Rescue (RER) and Master Wealth Control (MWC) between April 2017 and November 2022. Ms Grubisa was found to have been knowingly concerned in the contraventions.
“We welcome the upholding of the findings that DG Institute made false or misleading representations, as well as the finding that Ms Grubisa was knowingly concerned in this conduct,” ACCC Deputy Chair Mick Keogh said.
“More than 3,000 consumers paid between $4,500 and $9,200 to enrol in these programs between April 2017 and November 2022.”
DG Institute’s appeal against the $5 million in penalties and consumer redress totalling $14.7 million it had been ordered to pay was also dismissed, as was Ms Grubisa’s appeal against the $1 million penalty she was ordered to pay and her appeal against being disqualified from managing a corporation for five years. The Court also ordered that DG Institute and Ms Grubisa pay the ACCC’s costs of the appeals.
“The Court’s decision today also upheld the substantial consumer redress orders, the penalties imposed and Ms Grubisa’s five-year disqualification, clearly evidencing the seriousness of DG Institute’s and Ms Grubisa’s conduct,” Mr Keogh said.
Background
The ACCC commenced legal action against DG Institute and Ms Grubisa in December 2022.
On April 9, the Court found the following statements about the programs were false or misleading:
- Students of the RER program would be able to assist distressed homeowners to sell their home and retain some of the equity, whereas if a mortgagee were to repossess the property, the homeowner would lose any remaining equity in the property – including because “banks don’t give change.” In fact, a mortgagee is only entitled to amounts owed to it, plus any reasonable costs of recovery.
- Students of the MWC program could completely protect all their assets from creditors by setting up a specific trust DG Institute called a ‘Vestey Trust’ using transaction documents provided by DG Institute. In fact, the transaction documents provided did not provide the level of protection from creditors promised.
- The ‘Vestey Trust’ system promoted by DG Institute had been tested and upheld as effective by the Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia in the ‘Sharrment’ case, when in fact this was not the case.
The RER program and the MWC program were promoted through free in-person seminars, free online webinars and videos featuring Ms Grubisa, and on the DG Institute website.
Ms Grubisa is and was at all relevant times the sole director of DG Institute.