The Companies Auditors Disciplinary Board (CADB) handed down its decision on 24 October 2025 to cancel the registration of company auditor Ryan William O'Shea, for failing to carry out or perform adequately and properly his duties as auditor of:
- United Global Capital Pty Ltd (UGC) for the financial years ended 30 June 2021 and 2022;
- Global Capital Property Fund Limited (GCPF) for the financial years ended 30 June 2021, 2022, and 2023;
- UGC Global Alpha Fund Limited (Alpha Fund) for the financial years ended 30 June 2021, and 2022.
Over $92 million was invested into GCPF and Alpha Fund, predominantly by self-managed superannuation funds. UGC used a client onboarding and advice process that lured people into investing their retirement savings in UGC-related products, including recommending speculative investments in GCPF.
In making the decision to cancel Mr O'Shea's registration, the CADB determined, among other findings, that he had failed to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence concerning:
- the value of GCPF's investments in 15 property developments (totalling $93 million in the 2023 financial year) five of which were related to GCPF's directors;
- unit trust investments held by Alpha Fund of approximately $6.5 million;
- the recoverability of loans from UGC to Mr Hewish, for which there were no loan agreements or representations from UGC's management provided.
The CADB also found that the extensive and serious nature of the audit failures, meant that Mr O'Shea was not a fit and proper person to remain a registered company auditor.
The CADB made no orders in relation to costs on submission of the parties. ASIC acknowledges Mr O'Shea's cooperation throughout the CADB proceedings.
Deputy Chair Sarah Court said, 'This case strikes at the heart of two of ASIC's enforcement priorities for 2025 - exploiting superannuation savings and auditor misconduct. Auditors are critical gatekeepers, and when they fail in their duties, the consequences for investors can be severe.'
