Mr Brent Young of Queensland has appeared at the Brisbane Magistrates Court today 21 November 2025 charged with one count of fraud and one count of managing a corporation whilst disqualified.
Following an ASIC investigation, it is alleged that between 30 September 2020 and 30 June 2023 Mr Young, whilst acting as a shadow director of HWT Group Australia Pty Ltd (HWT Group), created and lodged over 10,000 fraudulent invoices with a Queensland-based finance provider to obtain over $8.3 million dollars in advanced payments under a debt factoring agreement Mr Young setup on behalf of HWT Group.
Debt factoring is where a business makes an agreement with a third-party finance provider to sell its unpaid invoices (accounts receivable) at a discount to receive cash prior to the invoices being due for payment.
ASIC alleges Mr Young created invoices issued to Bunnings Warehouse for payment of goods shipped to various stores, whilst neither Mr Young nor HWT Group had any existing business relationship with Bunnings relating to those goods.
At the time of the offences, Mr Young was bankrupt and was therefore automatically disqualified from managing corporations.
The matter has been adjourned to 19 December 2025 for mention.
Background
The charge of fraud is pursuant to section 408C of the Criminal Code 1899 (Qld) and carries a maximum penalty of 20 years' imprisonment.
The charge of managing a corporation whilst disqualified from doing so is pursuant to section 206A of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) and carries a maximum penalty of 5 years' imprisonment.
The matter is being prosecuted by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (Cth) (CDPP).
