According to one figure with deep knowledge of iProsperity’s operations, but who is not authorised to speak publicly, the story of the firm’s collapse points to how easily corporate crime can be committed in Australia.
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“Gu and Huang came here, gamed the system, and left very wealthy men. ASIC and the tax office did very little to stop them.”
It wasn’t long after the spectacular $600 million collapse of the iProsperity property group that the forensic accountants tasked with tracing its missing funds began to uncover some odd transactions.
The two iProsperity bosses, Gu and Huang, were corporate nobodies when 26-year-old Gu announced himself in 2015 as one of Australia’s hottest developers, with access to a seemingly unlimited stream of funds from wealthy Chinese individuals. Gu, a former telco salesman, encouraged high-wealth Chinese nationals to back his companies in order to gain access to Australia’s “Significant Investor Visa” scheme (SIV), which previously offered visas for those willing to invest at least $5 million.
Untried and untested, Gu and Huang attracted capital by spruiking their involvement in major property developments and hotels. At one point, they claimed to be investing in a Novotel hotel and the Canberra Casino.
When iProsperity collapsed in 2021 amid revelations they had repeatedly lied to creditors as the company floundered, sustained by conning new investors to part with millions of dollars, media interest focused on how Gu and…
