Fitlink dispute turns into a family feud

Uncertainty surrounding the future of troubled training provider Fitlink has been exasperated by a bitter family dispute over ownership of the lucrative New Zealand Fitlink business.

With thousands of students in Australia and New Zealand uncertain about the future of their studies, siblings from the Queensland-based Boman family have become involved in complex company and legal manoeuvres to secure ownership of the business.

Sean Boman alleges he and his sister Kerri Curtain have been illegally removed from the New Zealand business by his brother Tim Boman and his wife Angela Eluik, and will take the dispute to New Zealand's High Court.

Tim Boman seized control of the business in August, becoming the Chief Executive while Eluik the owner.

However, last week Sean Boman told ABC’s 7.30 "Tim's trying to challenge (for) a business that is clearly not his.”

Sean Boman claimed his brother and sister-in-law seized the New Zealand business after reneging on a deal with Curtain, stating “they agreed to hand the (New Zealand) business over because they couldn't repay the debts, and the only way Kerri was potentially going to get her money paid back was to take over the New Zealand business and they agreed to it.

"Unfortunately they still held the corporate key, which is like the ASIC corporate key, and they've made changes to the company register.

"They've changed themselves back to director and shareholder, which has been Kerri for the last nine months, and we have to take it to the High Court to fight it. It's just ridiculous."

Sean Boman said the legal dispute would destroy what was left of the Fitlink name, adding “this is absolutely madness, what's going on at the moment, because at the end of the day all that's being affected is staff and students.”

Two weeks ago Curtain broke her silence about the family turmoil, posting a warning to students about Tim Boman and Ms Eluik on the Silver Academy Facebook page.

Curtain wrote "this is a difficult post to write as our Fitlink New Zealand Ltd business is being hacked and attacked by those acting ... to gain control of our business.

"Those people are Angela Eluik, Tim Boman.

"The Australian students were left high and dry - and if it wasn't for the Fitlink New Zealand Team under the guidance and support of the rightful owner Kerri Curtain, literally thousands of students would have been ripped off!"

In another escalation of the dispute, the Silver Academy Facebook page has been removed with the ABC reporting that this was done without Curtain’s knowledge.

Tim Boman is a bankrupt accountant who ran Fitlink until two of his Australian companies collapsed late last year when he was unable to pay his bills, leaving students who had paid thousands of dollars without access to online courses, unable to contact their tutors and locked out of a Brisbane gym.

His siblings Sean Boman and Kerri Curtain took over the training provider's operations and re-branded the Australian arm as Silver Academy.

Responding to the ABC, Tim Boman and Eluik issued a statement through the New Zealand public relations firm Boag Allan SvG advising “as far as Fitlink is concerned, the dispute is over and the students are all being serviced properly.

"Essentially this was a family dispute where one brother (Sean) and his sister (Kerry) have tried to take the legitimate customers (the students) from Fitlink and transfer them to a company they set up themselves.

"They were able to do this because Kerry was in a rough patch financially and Angela had appointed her a joint director.

“Without Angela's permission, Kerry disestablished Angela as a director and transferred the shareholding to herself, taking Angela off the company's bank accounts as a signatory.

"The assets of the company are now owned by Fitlink NZ Ltd."

Lower image: Part of a message Kerri Curtain posted to the Fitlink Facebook page before the page was taken down. (Courtesy of Facebook)

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