Liquidators have referred the collapse of Gourmet Traveller Wine, and its key figures, to the corporate regulator alleging possible “illegal phoenix activity”.
Sometime over the summer, the country’s most popular wine journal quietly called it quits and stopped publishing.– had passed from the Packer family to German publishing giant Bauer, before being acquired by storied Sydney restaurateur Stan Sarris and his wife Judy.
“It got to the point where I had to ask contributors to withhold copy until they were paid because it was the only way I could ensure their invoices were settled,” said Mr Sweeney, who started at the magazine in 2015. “In the end … top-level complacency and the threat to my integrity was too great, so I left.”
“We have reported the illegal phoenix activity to [the Australian Securities and Investments Commission] … our request has been referred to a specialist team,” he added.. He said the new company had “never traded in any way, shape or form”, and that Mr Gray was mistaken.