Bankrupt Brisbane gym operator given three-year ban from managing companies

Brisbane-based gym operator Jacob ‘Jake’ Henley has been banned from managing corporations for three years as a result of nine of his companies collapsing in 2017 owing over $13.5 million.

The ban, announced last week by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC). follows the liquidation, between February and May 2017, of companies of which Henley was a Director including Gym and Tonic Healthclubs Pty Ltd, Performa Nutrition Pty Ltd, Fitness Managament Company Pty Ltd and Snap Fitness Double Bay Pty Ltd.

Henley, whose failed companies still owe huge amounts to creditors, is also reported to have failed to pay tradesmen and suppliers that worked on projects such as his now closed Fit Village in the Brisbane suburb of Paddington.

As reported by The Courier-Mail, Henley also previously served as a Director of at least 40 entities, most of which have collapsed.

With a creditor having forced Henley into personal bankruptcy in 2017, The Courier-Mail also reported that Henley’s three-year bankruptcy term was extended in mid-2020 at the request of his Trustees just days before he was set to be discharged.

Trustees said he had been uncooperative, failing to provide information as required about his property and income while also being alleged to have offloaded assets improperly for his own benefit at the expense of his creditors.

Henley’s bankruptcy document states “the bankrupt disposed of property but failed to explain adequately to the trustees why no money was received as a result of the disposal or what the bankrupt did with the money received as a result of the disposal.”

Henley is now not set to be discharged from his bankruptcy until 2025

He is also reported to be set to appear in the Brisbane Magistrates Court charged with one count of forgery and one count of uttering a forged document.

He has yet to enter a plea in the matter, which relates to the alleged fabrication and distribution of a Commonwealth Bank receipt,

Creditors of Henley’s failed businesses include a woman who secured a judgment last year to recoup nearly $25,000 and an architect who has been chasing almost $16,000 since 2018.

A building firm is also owed about $1.4 million on the Fit Village fitness centre. The Queensland Building and Construction Commission ordered Henley to pay the debt in 2019.

ASIC said its move this week related primarily to just two of Henley’s now-defunct companies, Gym and Tonic Pty Ltd and Yelneh Industries Pty Ltd.

The regulator said Henley had failed to keep accurate records, hindered liquidators by not providing documents and allowed the entities to trade while likely insolvent.

ASIC advised that Henley also “improperly used his position as director by transferring or withdrawing a combined total of $154,690 from the companies to gain an advantage for himself or related parties”.

ASIC noted that Henley is disqualified from managing corporations until 1st July 2024.

Click here to read the ASIC notice.

Image: Jake Henley.