‘Extensive and serious’ failures result in another UGC-related cancellation

The Companies Auditors Disciplinary Board has cancelled the registration of company auditor Ryan William O’Shea for failing to carry out or perform adequately and properly his duties as auditor of a number of United Global Capital (UGC) companies.

According to CADB, the conduct related to 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; and 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,” the Australian Securities and Investments commission said.

“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.”

CADB determined that O’Shea had, among other findings, 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 its director Joel Hewish, for which there were no loan agreements or representations from UGC’s management provided.

The auditors board also found that the extensive and serious nature of the audit failures meant that O’Shea was not a fit and proper person to remain a registered company auditor, while ASIC said it “acknowledges Mr O’Shea’s cooperation throughout the CADB proceedings”.

“This case strikes at the heart of two of ASIC’s enforcement priorities for 2025 – exploiting superannuation savings and auditor misconduct,” said ASIC deputy chair Sarah Court.

“Auditors are critical gatekeepers, and when they fail in their duties, the consequences for investors can be severe.”

The registration cancellation follows a string of action related to UGC, including the banning of director and key person/responsible manager Joel Hewish for 10 years and the cancellation of UGC’s Australian financial services licence

Hewish sought a review of ASIC’s decision to ban him in the ART. On 4 August 2025, the tribunal upheld ASIC’s decision to ban Hewish for 10 years. He may seek to appeal that decision.

On 20 June 2024, ASIC obtained interim orders from the Federal Court freezing the assets of UGC and GCPF.

On 5 July 2024, UGC entered into voluntary administration and on 9 August 2024, UGC’s creditors resolved to wind-up the company and appoint David Stimpson of SV Partners as liquidator.

On 9 September 2024, ASIC applied to appoint provisional liquidators and to wind-up GCPF. On 3 October 2024, the Federal Court made orders to wind-up GCPF and appoint Ross Blakely and Kelly-Anne Trenfield of FTI Consulting as liquidators.

ASIC made interim stop orders on 5 and 21 July 2022, respectively, preventing the offer of shares under GCPF’s prospectus, as well as further interim stop orders on 29 August and 13 September 2022, respectively, preventing the issue of shares due to a deficient target market determination.