Jan Cameron, the founder of clothing giant Kathmandu, has been found guilty of hiding her control of $14 million in shares of the baby formula company Bellamy’s.
Cameron used an offshore corporate structure based on the Dutch Caribbean island of Curacao to acquire the shares in 2014 – but failed to disclose the purchase to Bellamy’s and the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), according to Magistrate Michael Daly.
The Tasmanian businesswoman was charged by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) in 2020, which alleged that she used the Curacao-based Black Prince Private Foundation to purchase the shares.
Despite pleading not guilty, Magistrate Daly said the charges have now been proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
The scheme involved ‘warehousing’ the shares, a method of storing shares to gain a controlling interest in a company without detection.
Cameron sold her stake in Bellamy’s in 2014 and her company Bicheno Investments received $34 million.
Bicheno Investments then lent $23 million to LENGKAP, a company controlled by Cameron, which in turn lent $14 million to Black Prince to buy the Bellamy’s shares.
Her sentencing is scheduled for March 28th next year.
