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Speaker 1: Yeah, Hi, Mary, I think we spoke.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, how did it go so wrong to have a

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Speaker 2: journalist knocking on your door on a quiet Gold Coast

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Speaker 2: street in the middle of the day. There's someone else

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Speaker 2: tangled in the complicated web of Allan Metcalf. They've been

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Speaker 2: on the periphery of my investigation until now. It's time

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Speaker 2: she takes center stage. Buckle in, because this story is

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Speaker 2: about to go from the already pretty bizarre to outright ridiculous.

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Speaker 2: I'm Alex Turner Cohen, a finance and investigative reporter from

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Speaker 2: news dot com DoD AU, and you're listening to the

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Speaker 2: Missing forty nine Million. This is episode five, Mother Mary.

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Speaker 2: After Allan's death, his followers feared their investment was gone,

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Speaker 2: all forty nine million dollars of it. They expected the

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Speaker 2: business to shut down forever. But then Alan's wife, Mary

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Speaker 2: Metcalf took over. They went back to hoping and praying

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Speaker 2: that the hard earned money they'd handed over would once

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Speaker 2: again be returned to them at a hefty profit. But

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Speaker 2: what happened afterwards? And can Mary help with the search

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Speaker 2: for the money?

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Speaker 3: But the time will come when I will get out

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Speaker 3: there and promote all the things that Alan had achieving

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Speaker 3: true artificial intelligence when the.

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Speaker 4: Time is right.

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Speaker 2: This is Mary speaking at her husband's funeral in twenty seventeen,

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Speaker 2: when she was sixty eight years old. Her son Clayton

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Speaker 2: Metcalf was also going to help out.

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Speaker 3: Clayton I pledged we commit to commercialize this technology and

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Speaker 3: take it to the world to fulfill his dream. I

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Speaker 3: know that this sounds impossible, but Jesus said, with men,

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Speaker 3: it's impossible, but not with God. For with God all

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Speaker 3: things are possible. We have the faith and we call

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Speaker 3: upon God and your prayers for this to come true.

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Speaker 2: Just five days after her husband's death, Mary emailed shareholders

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Speaker 2: reassuring them of her plans for the company. Throughout this episode,

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Speaker 2: we're using a voice actor to read out Mary's emails,

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Speaker 2: so keep in mind these are her words, but not

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Speaker 2: her voice.

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Speaker 1: I have been the company's CFO from the beginning, working

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Speaker 1: closely alongside Allan, and I am totally familiar with all

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Speaker 1: aspects of the Safe World's TV project. I have committed

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Speaker 1: to take over Allan's work to establish this company as

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Speaker 1: he intended, with the help of my son Clayton Metcalf.

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Speaker 1: The finest celebration of his legacy is that all of

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Speaker 1: us who can now pledge to liberate this gift to

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Speaker 1: benefit humanity.

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Speaker 2: Mary seemed to genuinely believe in what her late husband

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Speaker 2: had started. She even titled the video of Allan's funeral

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Speaker 2: as stay Strong and Keep the Faith. But investors were nervous.

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Speaker 2: They wondered how someone other than Alan could run a

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Speaker 2: project of this magnitude. Michael Blake, the sporting star who

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Speaker 2: invested three hundred thousand dollars, hadn't thought of Mary as

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Speaker 2: the chief financial officer of Safe Worlds. He'd seen her

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Speaker 2: as the office manager.

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Speaker 4: Alan was hands on on the software and doing interviews,

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Speaker 4: trying to raise money, doing all the meetings, and Mary

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Speaker 4: is probably in charge of the office and all the paperwork,

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Speaker 4: the admin, you know, all the stuff that has to

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Speaker 4: be done.

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Speaker 2: Mary had been at Alan's side for much of his life.

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Speaker 2: She tagged along with him on his business trips to

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Speaker 2: the US, and her signature was on the hundreds of

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Speaker 2: share certificates issued right next to Allan's. He had signed

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Speaker 2: as chief executive of Safe Worlds and she had signed

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Speaker 2: as its secretary. I want to know more about Mary

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Speaker 2: metcalf I found out so much about her late husband,

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Speaker 2: but what about the woman herself? This is what comes

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Speaker 2: up after I searched the Internet. Originally from Hungary, she

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Speaker 2: moved to Australia with her family when she was ten

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Speaker 2: and changed her name from Maria to Mary. Alan became

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Speaker 2: her life partner when she was seventeen. The Age newspaper

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Speaker 2: called her a prominent national party housewife in a nineteen

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Speaker 2: eighty article. She was also the publisher of Townsville Woman,

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Speaker 2: one of several magazines Alan launched, which went bust in

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Speaker 2: the nineteen eighties. In there, she said she was not

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Speaker 2: a woman's liberation person and highlighted success stories in motherhood

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Speaker 2: and commerce. More recently, in a profile on an American website,

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Speaker 2: she was named a twenty fifteen Professional Woman of the

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Speaker 2: Year for her work at Safe Worlds. The New York

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Speaker 2: based National Association of Professional Women bestowed the award. Warren Bardon,

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Speaker 2: an investor from Geraldon who we heard from last episode,

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Speaker 2: was impressed.

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Speaker 5: It was spoken about Mary that she got Businesswoman of

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Speaker 5: the Year in bons Land or something that's sort of

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Speaker 5: charges people say or they know what they're doing.

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Speaker 2: Mike Brooke is the IT blogger we heard from in

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Speaker 2: another episode whose parents got mixed up in the scheme.

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Speaker 2: When he heard about Mary's award, he felt something was off.

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Speaker 5: The more I followed him and the more he talked

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Speaker 5: about how he was trying to sell to this company

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Speaker 5: and this company, and he would have things like he

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Speaker 5: would put on his emails out that Mary had won

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Speaker 5: this prestigious award of women and business. And then when

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Speaker 5: you actually go and look at what this award is,

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Speaker 5: it's a pay to play. It is an award that

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Speaker 5: you pay for and then you get a prestigious award.

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Speaker 2: The National Association of Professional Women got in trouble for

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Speaker 2: offering women free membership but then houning them credit card

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Speaker 2: payments of annual fees of up to one thousand dollars

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Speaker 2: and for extra you could be profiled on their website.

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Speaker 2: I've contacted Mary and the National Association of Professional Women

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Speaker 2: about claims that this award was paid for, but no

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Speaker 2: response has been received. One thing is certain, though, Alan

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Speaker 2: left mother Mary holding the baby because when Alan died,

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Speaker 2: the federal government was officially investigating the company. But why

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Speaker 2: was Safeworlds in trouble? The answer is hiding in plain sight.

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Speaker 2: Remember the back of those share certificates that said the

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Speaker 2: company wasn't registered under any laws in the US or

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Speaker 2: anywhere else in the world. Well, Australian authorities were not happy.

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Speaker 2: The Australian Federal Police, also known as the AFP, raided

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Speaker 2: Alan's Safeworld's officers and also his home multiple times. They

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Speaker 2: took computers and documents and apparently crippled the Safe World's operation.

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Speaker 2: The AFP tell me the.

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Speaker 6: AFP executed search warrants on behalf of Assek at a

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Speaker 6: home and business on the Gold Coast and an office

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Speaker 6: in the Brisbane CBD in November twenty sixteen. The AFP

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Speaker 6: executed search warrants on behalf of ASSEK at the same

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Speaker 6: locations in January twenty seventeen. As this matter concerns and

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Speaker 6: ASSEK led investigation, all other inquiries should be directed to them.

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Speaker 2: The Australian Securities and Investments Commission ACIK for short, is

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Speaker 2: the country's corporate regulator, and someone or several someones had

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Speaker 2: passed on their concerns. In twenty sixteen, ASEIX started looking

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Speaker 2: into Alan and Safe Worlds, so I reach out to

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Speaker 2: ASEIK to find out more and put in a freedom

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Speaker 2: of information request. Two months later, I learned that the

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Speaker 2: metcalf sent forty five emails to Assek. Sixteen of those

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Speaker 2: were from Allen. His last email to them was just

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Speaker 2: three days before his death. Unfortunately, Acik wouldn't tell me

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Speaker 2: what was said in those emails, just that those emails existed.

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Speaker 2: It's frustrating. I would give almost anything to know what

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Speaker 2: Alan was saying. Was he surprised that authorities were looking

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Speaker 2: into him or had he been bracing for it for years.

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Speaker 2: When Alan passed away, Assek turned to Mary as the

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Speaker 2: new boss. Safegolds had failed to register as a foreign

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Speaker 2: company as required under the law. The company was also

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Speaker 2: offering shares to Australian investors without proper disclosure documents, which

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Speaker 2: was a breach under the Corporation's Act. Safegolds had to

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Speaker 2: enter into what is known as an enforceable undertaking.

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Speaker 7: The company and Mary Metcalfe have offered, and Asek has

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Speaker 7: agreed to accept as an alternative to Assek in exercising

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Speaker 7: its civil powers and or its administrative powers against a

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Speaker 7: company or others. The company will not offer securities that

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Speaker 7: require disclosure, and Mary metcalf will not be involved in

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Speaker 7: the offer of security dies that require disclosure.

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Speaker 2: Essentially, Mary wasn't allowed to sell any more Safe Worlds

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Speaker 2: shares and she had to register the business as a

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Speaker 2: foreign company. Mary also had to inform shareholders of the scolding,

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Speaker 2: and it was posted up onto the Internet for all

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Speaker 2: the world to see.

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Speaker 1: In September twenty sixteen, ASSEK commenced an investigation into Safe

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Speaker 1: Worlds as it was concerned about the way in which

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Speaker 1: we had raised money from investors. Safe Worlds has not

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Speaker 1: registered with ASEK as a foreign company, and Acik has

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Speaker 1: been concerned that Safe Worlds has not complied with its

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Speaker 1: obligations under the Corporations Act. On the twenty third of

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Speaker 1: August twenty seventeen, Safe Worlds provided a signed, enforceable undertaking

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Speaker 1: to ASEK.

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Speaker 2: That's part of the email from August twenty seventeen which

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Speaker 2: Acik shared online. It's pretty humiliating and a pretty big deal.

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Speaker 2: Anyone who looks up her name or Safe Worlds will

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Speaker 2: find that for many investors this was vindication proof that

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Speaker 2: their concerns about the company hadn't been totally imagined. Some

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Speaker 2: of them wished that this had happened years before to

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Speaker 2: spare them from ever trusting the company with their money.

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Speaker 2: I want to know more so I write to Mary

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Speaker 2: again asking about this asset decision. Eventually she writes back,

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Speaker 2: and I'm amazed she's blaming.

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Speaker 1: Allan Asek found no financial impropriety, only breaches of what

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Speaker 1: could be seen without belittling their importance as more technical rules,

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Speaker 1: in particular the number of shareholders we could sell to

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Speaker 1: without the expense of a prospectus. My husband erroneously believed

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Speaker 1: that the limit applied on each issue and not the total. Unfortunately,

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Speaker 1: we should have had access to continuous legal advice, an

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Speaker 1: area where we had tried to save expenses.

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Speaker 2: So Mary is saying that her husband's stinginess by trying

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Speaker 2: to save money or legal advice was what landed them

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Speaker 2: in hot water. Maybe that's completely understandable. We all make mistakes,

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Speaker 2: but ACIK wasn't going to let them go completely. The

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Speaker 2: corporate regulator reserved their rights to take Safe Worlds to court,

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Speaker 2: either civilly or criminally in the future. I wonder how

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Speaker 2: common is it for a company to be investigated like this.

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Speaker 8: We're just going to go straight to questions this morning.

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Speaker 9: Ye I'll ask you about a few matters. Have you

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Speaker 9: been following this inquiry?

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Speaker 3: We have?

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Speaker 9: Yes, yeah, Okay, So you would know broadly the themes

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Speaker 9: which has been focusing on. Like I just I want

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Speaker 9: to ask you about a.

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Speaker 8: Few things today.

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Speaker 10: Do you think that we.

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Speaker 9: Have a problem with white collar crime in Australia?

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Speaker 11: Senator I'll pause, Alex, I'm trying to think about that

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Speaker 11: answer that without expressing an opinion.

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Speaker 9: On that one.

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Speaker 2: You're listening to a Senate inquiry into ASCIK. From November

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Speaker 2: twenty twenty three, New South Wales Senator Andrew Bragg was

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Speaker 2: leading a parliamentary inquiry into ASSEK, which recently finished. That's

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Speaker 2: him grilling some representatives from the Treasury. Months after that hearing,

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Speaker 2: I sit down with Senator Bragg in his office with

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Speaker 2: stunning views of Sydney Harbor. Senator Bragg leans back on

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Speaker 2: his chair as he tells me why it's important to

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Speaker 2: watch the Watchdog. Can you tell me a bit about

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Speaker 2: why this inquiry was started in the first place. What

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Speaker 2: were some of the concerns that made it get off

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Speaker 2: the ground.

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Speaker 9: Well, I was concerned that there were a spate of

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Speaker 9: instances where people were not being held to account where

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Speaker 9: they had clearly broken the law. And I worried that

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Speaker 9: white collar crime was a major issue in our country.

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Speaker 9: The key finding, I think has to be that the

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Speaker 9: reason we see a cycle of ongoing white collar crime

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Speaker 9: is because no one's afraid of acid. In the last year,

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Speaker 9: the gray Barrier, Marine pac or I already achieved more

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Speaker 9: criminal prosecutions than corporate law enforcement. It's not very sexy,

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Speaker 9: but it's very important to a lot of people, because

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Speaker 9: ultimately what's happening is there's a lot of white collar crime.

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Speaker 9: It's damaging the economy. People are getting done over, There

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Speaker 9: are no opportunities for compensation for people who get done over,

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Speaker 9: and it's bloody outrageous.

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Speaker 2: I ask Senator Bragg for his take on the civil

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Speaker 2: penalty that Safe World's received. He won't comment specifically, but

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Speaker 2: he did say this about penalties generally.

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Speaker 9: That's the main finding from the inquiry, that the criminal

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Speaker 9: penalties are not used and there's an over alliance on

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Speaker 9: civil penalties, which are like speeding tickets. A think there's

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Speaker 9: a lot of powers. It loves civil penalties, but I

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Speaker 9: think that some people should be banned for life from

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Speaker 9: doing financial services or acting as a company director. And

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Speaker 9: until you see heads on spikes, then I don't think

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Speaker 9: you're going to see any change.

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Speaker 2: As I leave Andrews's office. It strikes me that Assex

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Speaker 2: seems pretty useless, a toothless tiger, and knowing this, I

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Speaker 2: now think it's even more significant that Asik took an

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Speaker 2: interest in Safe Worlds. I decided to ask Asik about

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Speaker 2: Mary and her business. The law enforcement body tells me

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Speaker 2: they struck the deal with Mary Metcalf before the twenty

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Speaker 2: nineteen Financial Services Royal Commission. Since then they've changed their

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Speaker 2: enforcement culture and also the circumstances where they'll accept an

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Speaker 2: unforcable undertaking. The Royal Commission was a pretty shocking spotlight

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Speaker 2: into our financial sector and it rocked Australians. The Commission

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Speaker 2: handed down a number of recommendations, including a push for

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Speaker 2: ASSEK to take more companies to court for wrongdoing rather

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Speaker 2: than simply striking settlement deals. Senator Bragg's inquiry into ASSEK

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Speaker 2: finished in early July and its findings were grim. He

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Speaker 2: absolutely eviscerated the regulator in his report to Parliament, finding

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Speaker 2: it failed miserably in protecting the Australian public. The Senator

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Speaker 2: is now calling for complete overhaul of the government organization.

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Speaker 9: Every time there's been a problem in Canberra since ninety

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Speaker 9: ninety seven, it's been given to ACIK, and ACIK is

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Speaker 9: now a monolith. It is so big and it can't

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Speaker 9: possibly be successful as a sprawling financial services regulator and

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Speaker 9: as a company's regulator, which is why we have recommended

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Speaker 9: a new structure for corporate law enforcement in Australia, which

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Speaker 9: would be a splitting of asseg UP and a creation

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Speaker 9: of two new bodies.

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Speaker 2: So it's hard to get ACIK to take people's complaints seriously,

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Speaker 2: and yet they did for Safe Worlds. But as I

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Speaker 2: start diving deeper, I'm shocked to discover that this wasn't

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Speaker 2: even the biggest issue Safeworlds faced under Mary's leadership, because

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Speaker 2: while all this was going on, Mary was trying to

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Speaker 2: broker a deal to sell the company. Michael Blake, the

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Speaker 2: Sydney former sports star who invested a fortune, tells me

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Speaker 2: this is where things get really weird.

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Speaker 4: Not long after Alan passed away, Mary sent out an

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Speaker 4: email telling us all that she was going to take

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Speaker 4: it up and get a result in carry on Allan's work.

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Speaker 4: And then not long after that, she said that she'd

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Speaker 4: got a pocket call from this stuff guy from Ireland

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Speaker 4: that Alan had been speaking with, and that he was

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Speaker 4: really sad that Alan had passed away, but he did

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Speaker 4: whatever he can to help get the project up and going,

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Speaker 4: and it turned into that he was done to buy

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Speaker 4: Safeworld or the technology for a couple of billion dollars.

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Speaker 2: John Duff is an Irish businessman, offering a fortune for

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Speaker 2: Safe Worlds two point two five billion US dollars with inflation.

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Speaker 2: That's worth about two point eight eight billion today, which

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Speaker 2: is four point four to six billion in Australian dollars.

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Speaker 2: It seemed like an answer to everyone's prayers. Our God

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Speaker 2: send a miracle. Mary emailed shareholders, saying we.

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Speaker 1: Are as anxious as all shareholders are to see this

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Speaker 1: matter concluded soon and on the best of terms, I

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Speaker 1: am doing everything I can to achieve this.

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Speaker 2: As a shareholder himself, Michael says he was excited.

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Speaker 4: So it's one hundred thousand shares, okay, Well that's thirty

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Speaker 4: three dollars a share. Well that's not too bad. So

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Speaker 4: I've you've got one hundred thousand shares, that's three point

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Speaker 4: three million dollars or whatever it is. You know, you've

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Speaker 4: got two hundred and five hundred, ten thousand shares, and

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Speaker 4: that's so we kind of thought okay, I'll be happy

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Speaker 4: with that.

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Speaker 2: John Duff, the potential buyer, was going to fund the

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Speaker 2: multi billion dollar purchase through his company. A few months later, though,

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Speaker 2: Duff changed his tune. He said he'd fund the sale personally.

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Speaker 2: Given the price Duff was willing to pay was apparently

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Speaker 2: over two billion, that would mean he must be a

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Speaker 2: billionaire himself, But Michael tells me he's never heard of

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Speaker 2: a billionaire called John Duff. In Australia, people with a

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Speaker 2: new worth of over a billion are all known. There's

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Speaker 2: only one hundred and fifty of them, and Ireland has

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Speaker 2: a much smaller economy and population in Australia. I try

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Speaker 2: to dig up everything I can about this mysterious irishman,

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Speaker 2: and the information is sparse. Aside from a LinkedIn page,

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Speaker 2: there's very little online about John Darff at all. He's

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Speaker 2: from Mullingar, from the Ireland county of Westmeath, with a

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Speaker 2: population of just twenty two thousand people. Investor Charlie Weinbean,

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Speaker 2: the man whose tip off kickstarted my investigation into Safe Worlds,

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Speaker 2: tells me he was suspicious of the deal from the start.

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Speaker 12: I became skeptical, of course, but then the first email

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Speaker 12: that we got after his passing away was from Mary,

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Speaker 12: in which he was saying that nothing would change and

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Speaker 12: she was going to continue. Alan was gone, but the

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Speaker 12: Safe Worlds were still there and they were just continuing

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Speaker 12: with business as usual pretty much. But then we got

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Speaker 12: the crazy emails, you know, like the one from jumping

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Speaker 12: from investor to the other, the ones that really started

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Speaker 12: making me skeptical.

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Speaker 2: The emails he's referring to came from Rod McKay, the

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Speaker 2: farmer from Geralton who poured one point five million dollars

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Speaker 2: into the scheme and encouraged hundreds of others to invest.

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Speaker 2: Up until this point, Rod was a Safe Worlds fanatic,

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Speaker 2: but the John Duff deal was making him lose his faith.

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Speaker 2: Rod McKay sensationally quit the Safe World's Advisory board. Then

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Speaker 2: he got into a very long, wild exchange of emails

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Speaker 2: with Mary metcalf. As you know, Rod has declined to

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Speaker 2: speak to me or help with my investigation. But luckily

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Speaker 2: for me, he copied in lots of other investors into

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Speaker 2: these emails. Most had deleted or lost them, but Warren

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Speaker 2: Bardon from Geralton had saved them all. He printed them

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Speaker 2: off and handed them to me in a big folder.

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Speaker 2: When I visited him last episode. The emails fill up

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Speaker 2: nineteen pages. I read them all in one sitting, not

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Speaker 2: quite the l leaving what I'm seeing. I can't tell

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Speaker 2: you some of what was in Rod's messages because I

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Speaker 2: wasn't able to verify it. Here's what I can tell you.

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Speaker 2: These are Rod's words, but not his voice.

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Speaker 13: My quest for a return from shareholders on their investment,

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Speaker 13: and because of my belief in the Safe World's product.

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Speaker 13: A preliminary investigation has been completed on the ground in

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Speaker 13: Ireland by a contact of mine. The time for delusion

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Speaker 13: is over. The reality of the Irish deal can now

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Speaker 13: be seen for what it is.

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Speaker 2: One of the people Rod had introduced to the Safeworld's

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Speaker 2: program was from Ireland. This investor returned to his homeland

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Speaker 2: in twenty nineteen and decided to look into who Duff was.

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Speaker 2: In a series of emails sent over a few months,

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Speaker 2: Rod revealed what they'd uncovered.

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Speaker 13: John Duff was born in nineteen thirty three and had

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Speaker 13: moved to New York and had become a policeman and

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Speaker 13: later worked for the CIA. He has six children to

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Speaker 13: one one life and four children to four other women.

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Speaker 13: His son had a demolition company in London and died

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Speaker 13: on the twenty fifth of June twenty twenty. He has

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Speaker 13: paid one hundred and twenty four euros from the Irish

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Speaker 13: government every week. He has an office works print out

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Speaker 13: his emails and he collects them. He does not have

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Speaker 13: a desktop or laptop.

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Speaker 2: As I'm pouring over these files, the chain of events

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Speaker 2: gets crazier on every new line. Next, Rod writes that

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Speaker 2: Mary wanted her son looked after.

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Speaker 13: It was a source of amusement to Duff that a

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Speaker 13: make or break condition of a multi billion dollar deal

361
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Speaker 13: was that Mary's son, Clayton, had to be given a job.

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Speaker 2: Rod had blacked out important names in the emails, including

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Speaker 2: the name of Duff's company, and even more strange, Duff

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Speaker 2: was referred to as JB throughout the exchange, like some

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Speaker 2: kind of spy alias. Rod said he was able to

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Speaker 2: find this all out by talking to a former business

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Speaker 2: associate of Duff's. The only thing I have is the

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Speaker 2: name John Duff and the name and date of his

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Speaker 2: son passing away. I find his son's death notice on

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Speaker 2: a funeral website, which does indeed prove Duff had six

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00:22:15,240 --> 00:22:18,399
Speaker 2: children from his first marriage. Now I also have the

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Speaker 2: area in Ireland that Duff is from, and from there

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Speaker 2: I'm able to track down the name of his company,

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Speaker 2: Copthorn Trust Corporation Limited. For two euros fifty I get

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Speaker 2: a business extract on it from the company's registration office,

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Speaker 2: which is exactly what it sounds like, Ireland's corporate regulator.

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Speaker 2: Those documents show that yes, stuff was born. In nineteen

378
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Speaker 2: thirty three. One Sydney investor Jay Martin Covits, was watching

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Speaker 2: the email exchange play out from a distance. He tells

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Speaker 2: me he invested ten thousand dollars into Safe Worlds, and

381
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Speaker 2: as Ji I learned more about the Irish deal, he

382
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Speaker 2: was worried what this meant for his money and if

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00:23:00,040 --> 00:23:01,119
Speaker 2: he'd ever see it again.

384
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Speaker 11: I find it very strange that someone would pooney up

385
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Speaker 11: with a billion dollars plus of money, which at that

386
00:23:07,800 --> 00:23:10,439
Speaker 11: time I don't think it was even suggested there had

387
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Speaker 11: been a meeting. So for someone to invest in a

388
00:23:13,800 --> 00:23:16,760
Speaker 11: system that they haven't seen or done any due diligence

389
00:23:16,840 --> 00:23:20,280
Speaker 11: on would be crazy, yet alone at that level of money,

390
00:23:20,520 --> 00:23:23,840
Speaker 11: so I question that as far as the valuation of

391
00:23:23,960 --> 00:23:27,720
Speaker 11: the platform itself, the only way you could possibly even

392
00:23:27,960 --> 00:23:31,080
Speaker 11: justify anywhere near that level of valuation for the system

393
00:23:31,119 --> 00:23:35,680
Speaker 11: would be if Alan had artificial intelligence. If he had that,

394
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Speaker 11: sky's a limit. If he didn't have it, I think

395
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Speaker 11: it's worth nothing zero.

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Speaker 2: Duff himself seemed to have similar concerns. He thought Safewards

397
00:23:46,800 --> 00:23:50,040
Speaker 2: was worth two hundred and thirty thousand dollars, not two

398
00:23:50,040 --> 00:23:55,320
Speaker 2: point three billion, according to Rod's investigations. Mary emailed investors

399
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Speaker 2: in late twenty nineteen to say that Duff would have

400
00:23:57,840 --> 00:24:01,320
Speaker 2: the first one point five billion dollars in place by

401
00:24:01,359 --> 00:24:04,080
Speaker 2: the end of the year. But if Duff is getting

402
00:24:04,119 --> 00:24:06,639
Speaker 2: a one hundred and twenty four euro a week living

403
00:24:06,680 --> 00:24:09,760
Speaker 2: allowance from the government in his old age, how can

404
00:24:09,760 --> 00:24:14,240
Speaker 2: he afford any of this? Things took another turn. Duff

405
00:24:14,240 --> 00:24:17,240
Speaker 2: had a business partner who was also the co director

406
00:24:17,280 --> 00:24:21,720
Speaker 2: of the company Copthorn Trust. Company documents show this man

407
00:24:21,760 --> 00:24:25,840
Speaker 2: resigned just a week after Mary's announcement. Rod pointed out

408
00:24:25,840 --> 00:24:28,000
Speaker 2: this discrepancy in yet another email.

409
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Speaker 13: It seems highly improbable that this person would resign just

410
00:24:32,600 --> 00:24:34,400
Speaker 13: when the deal was coming to fruition.

411
00:24:35,280 --> 00:24:36,600
Speaker 2: Nothing was adding up.

412
00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:40,879
Speaker 13: It's a mythical purchase, cannot be backed by its timeline.

413
00:24:41,240 --> 00:24:44,639
Speaker 13: Non refundable deposit or stand by letter of credit.

414
00:24:45,560 --> 00:24:49,119
Speaker 2: Rod's emails infuriated Mary. This is her reply.

415
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Speaker 1: I find it incomprehensible that a former member of the

416
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Speaker 1: committee is conducting an insulting and defamatory campaign against the

417
00:24:57,880 --> 00:25:01,040
Speaker 1: only person who has shown any in the purchase of

418
00:25:01,119 --> 00:25:05,760
Speaker 1: Safe Worlds. I have now seen documentation which indicates that

419
00:25:05,880 --> 00:25:08,600
Speaker 1: John Duff's finances are falling into place.

420
00:25:10,400 --> 00:25:14,040
Speaker 2: Mary said all this negative information on Duff was coming

421
00:25:14,080 --> 00:25:17,680
Speaker 2: from a former business associate of his who was disgruntled

422
00:25:17,720 --> 00:25:21,359
Speaker 2: because he'd been dismissed from Copthorn Trust. But when I

423
00:25:21,440 --> 00:25:25,080
Speaker 2: try to verify this, records revealed Duff's ex business associate

424
00:25:25,160 --> 00:25:30,280
Speaker 2: was not sacked. Instead, this man officially resigned. John Duff

425
00:25:30,280 --> 00:25:33,600
Speaker 2: and this man were co directors of Copthorn Trust. The

426
00:25:33,640 --> 00:25:37,320
Speaker 2: business associates contact details are on a document I find online.

427
00:25:37,880 --> 00:25:41,040
Speaker 2: I give it a go. This man eventually gets back

428
00:25:41,080 --> 00:25:43,760
Speaker 2: to me. He doesn't just want to chat, he wants

429
00:25:43,800 --> 00:25:46,840
Speaker 2: to meet. It's ten PM and I'm lying in bed

430
00:25:46,880 --> 00:25:50,000
Speaker 2: on my laptop when I receive the reply. I send

431
00:25:50,040 --> 00:25:53,160
Speaker 2: a half delirious message to my colleague about this breakthrough

432
00:25:53,160 --> 00:25:57,480
Speaker 2: in the case because I'm excited. For months the details

433
00:25:57,520 --> 00:25:59,680
Speaker 2: of the Irish deal have been just out of reach.

434
00:26:00,240 --> 00:26:03,880
Speaker 2: Talking to Duff's business associate might change that, and as

435
00:26:03,960 --> 00:26:07,240
Speaker 2: luck would have it, he's actually traveling to Australia very

436
00:26:07,320 --> 00:26:12,320
Speaker 2: soon and we agree to meet when he's here, dressed

437
00:26:12,320 --> 00:26:14,919
Speaker 2: in a suit. He has a soft Irish accent and

438
00:26:14,960 --> 00:26:18,520
Speaker 2: a firm handshake. He doesn't want me to record our

439
00:26:18,560 --> 00:26:21,480
Speaker 2: conversation or for me to use his real name, so

440
00:26:21,640 --> 00:26:25,160
Speaker 2: I'll call him Declan. He lets me take notes though,

441
00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:28,720
Speaker 2: during our conversation, and that's what a voice actor is relaying.

442
00:26:29,680 --> 00:26:33,560
Speaker 2: I ask him about his former business partner, the mysterious

443
00:26:33,720 --> 00:26:38,159
Speaker 2: John Duff, the so called billionaire investor who receives one

444
00:26:38,240 --> 00:26:41,200
Speaker 2: hundred and twenty four euros from the Irish government every

445
00:26:41,280 --> 00:26:44,800
Speaker 2: week and offered to spend over two billion buying out

446
00:26:44,840 --> 00:26:45,560
Speaker 2: Safe Worlds.

447
00:26:46,400 --> 00:26:49,280
Speaker 14: John had been talking to a man from Dundee University.

448
00:26:49,960 --> 00:26:52,679
Speaker 14: He told John about Safe Worlds. This was when it

449
00:26:52,720 --> 00:26:54,200
Speaker 14: came onto the scene for him.

450
00:26:54,840 --> 00:26:57,520
Speaker 2: John Duff had promised to get Declan funding for a

451
00:26:57,600 --> 00:27:02,119
Speaker 2: humanitarian venture he was working on to stop child sex trafficking.

452
00:27:02,720 --> 00:27:05,639
Speaker 2: This is how they ended up as business partners. But

453
00:27:05,800 --> 00:27:10,199
Speaker 2: Duff never raised the promised funds because something else was

454
00:27:10,240 --> 00:27:11,639
Speaker 2: taking up all his time.

455
00:27:12,200 --> 00:27:14,679
Speaker 14: Every day I went into the office, he was talking

456
00:27:14,680 --> 00:27:17,680
Speaker 14: to missus Metcalf. They were on the phone day and night,

457
00:27:18,160 --> 00:27:20,959
Speaker 14: Australia being nine hours ahead of us. The last thing

458
00:27:21,000 --> 00:27:24,760
Speaker 14: at night John called. She was besotted with him, accepting

459
00:27:24,800 --> 00:27:27,679
Speaker 14: everything he said. Mary grabbed at a straw, and that

460
00:27:27,800 --> 00:27:31,480
Speaker 14: straw was John Duff. John absolutely had her hook line

461
00:27:31,480 --> 00:27:31,959
Speaker 14: and sinker.

462
00:27:32,600 --> 00:27:36,400
Speaker 2: Declan confirms that part of the deal was for Mary's son, Clayton,

463
00:27:36,480 --> 00:27:37,200
Speaker 2: to get a job.

464
00:27:37,480 --> 00:27:40,720
Speaker 14: If you're given this woman two point two five billion dollars,

465
00:27:40,960 --> 00:27:42,639
Speaker 14: what the hell does her son need a job for.

466
00:27:43,280 --> 00:27:47,160
Speaker 2: Declan confirms that yes, John Duff did print off emails

467
00:27:47,160 --> 00:27:50,280
Speaker 2: at his local office works and he tells me John

468
00:27:50,400 --> 00:27:52,320
Speaker 2: had claimed to be XCIA.

469
00:27:53,119 --> 00:27:56,080
Speaker 14: I rang Mary up numerous times and said, if you

470
00:27:56,160 --> 00:27:59,080
Speaker 14: have someone else to take this project, take them because

471
00:27:59,119 --> 00:28:01,679
Speaker 14: we have no money. I told her straight up. I

472
00:28:01,720 --> 00:28:05,159
Speaker 14: have never added to John's story. I said, John, you

473
00:28:05,200 --> 00:28:08,240
Speaker 14: don't have this money. All we were were two muppets

474
00:28:08,240 --> 00:28:09,080
Speaker 14: from the other side.

475
00:28:08,880 --> 00:28:09,359
Speaker 15: Of the world.

476
00:28:10,560 --> 00:28:15,960
Speaker 2: But Mary didn't agree. As for John's role, Declan declares.

477
00:28:15,440 --> 00:28:17,199
Speaker 14: I'd be certain that he didn't go in with the

478
00:28:17,480 --> 00:28:20,320
Speaker 14: idea of scamming he went in with the idea of

479
00:28:20,320 --> 00:28:21,480
Speaker 14: making money for himself.

480
00:28:22,200 --> 00:28:25,680
Speaker 2: Things soured pretty quickly, though, and Diclan had to get out.

481
00:28:26,080 --> 00:28:29,880
Speaker 14: I'd had enough, I'd saved him from embarrassment. John accused

482
00:28:29,880 --> 00:28:32,840
Speaker 14: me of stealing documents before I left, some of the

483
00:28:32,880 --> 00:28:36,439
Speaker 14: documents related to Mary. It was just one paper with

484
00:28:36,520 --> 00:28:38,240
Speaker 14: bank details on it. That was it.

485
00:28:38,920 --> 00:28:41,719
Speaker 2: This was the last text Declan sent to Mary.

486
00:28:42,040 --> 00:28:44,840
Speaker 14: Hello Mary, just a quick note to let you know

487
00:28:44,920 --> 00:28:47,560
Speaker 14: that I never stole anything from anyone in my life.

488
00:28:48,040 --> 00:28:51,200
Speaker 14: Look after yourself and your shareholders who have committed themselves

489
00:28:51,240 --> 00:28:54,560
Speaker 14: to your husband's ideals. Keep them close, as they are

490
00:28:54,600 --> 00:28:57,080
Speaker 14: the only real thing in this whole sorry affair.

491
00:28:58,840 --> 00:29:03,000
Speaker 2: My mind is race after this such an odd situation

492
00:29:03,360 --> 00:29:06,120
Speaker 2: and an odd rave of people who've been sucked into

493
00:29:06,120 --> 00:29:10,920
Speaker 2: this seemingly never ending saga. While talking to Declan certainly

494
00:29:10,960 --> 00:29:13,720
Speaker 2: didn't answer some of my questions, it feels good at

495
00:29:13,800 --> 00:29:16,160
Speaker 2: least that I've heard it from the source now and

496
00:29:16,280 --> 00:29:20,080
Speaker 2: not third hand. Through some emails. I also learned that

497
00:29:20,160 --> 00:29:23,160
Speaker 2: money was supposed to come from another associate of Duff's,

498
00:29:23,600 --> 00:29:27,560
Speaker 2: a Danish woman called Jit Marstrand. I get hold of

499
00:29:27,560 --> 00:29:31,280
Speaker 2: her number. We speak over the phone. After multiple texts

500
00:29:31,280 --> 00:29:33,920
Speaker 2: where we try to work out the time difference. This

501
00:29:33,960 --> 00:29:35,640
Speaker 2: is someone reading out her words.

502
00:29:36,760 --> 00:29:40,000
Speaker 16: John and I are in the same business funding humanitarian

503
00:29:40,200 --> 00:29:43,520
Speaker 16: and environmental projects. He was in the CIA Meals Center

504
00:29:43,560 --> 00:29:45,920
Speaker 16: the Middle East. Those were the wild days. He got

505
00:29:46,040 --> 00:29:46,840
Speaker 16: shot in the face.

506
00:29:47,480 --> 00:29:50,800
Speaker 2: Jit says Duff's life wasn't quite so exciting now as

507
00:29:50,800 --> 00:29:53,640
Speaker 2: he's in a nursing home. When I ask her about

508
00:29:53,640 --> 00:29:56,240
Speaker 2: Safe Worlds, she vaguely recalls it.

509
00:29:56,920 --> 00:29:58,600
Speaker 8: I don't know safe Worlds. Intimately.

510
00:29:58,960 --> 00:30:01,520
Speaker 16: I think missus Metca wasn't very pleased with John. My

511
00:30:01,600 --> 00:30:03,719
Speaker 16: involvement was the request from John to try and find

512
00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:06,120
Speaker 16: a leader to fund the new IT technology.

513
00:30:06,440 --> 00:30:07,960
Speaker 8: For a while, he spoke about it daily.

514
00:30:08,240 --> 00:30:10,840
Speaker 16: He couldn't substantiate the two point two five billion to

515
00:30:10,920 --> 00:30:11,760
Speaker 16: any provider.

516
00:30:12,400 --> 00:30:15,800
Speaker 8: John was very proactive. Maybe he talked too much too early.

517
00:30:16,240 --> 00:30:19,240
Speaker 2: And Jit is pretty confident she could get Duff the

518
00:30:19,360 --> 00:30:21,000
Speaker 2: billions of dollars he needed.

519
00:30:21,360 --> 00:30:23,840
Speaker 16: There are large amounts of historical funds in China and

520
00:30:23,880 --> 00:30:26,320
Speaker 16: the King Solomon funds. They're all around the world. It

521
00:30:26,360 --> 00:30:28,440
Speaker 16: takes a lot to get this money released. I could

522
00:30:28,480 --> 00:30:30,280
Speaker 16: introduce him to these accounts at the time.

523
00:30:31,760 --> 00:30:35,400
Speaker 2: There's a biblical tale of King Solomon abandoning his mind

524
00:30:35,560 --> 00:30:39,600
Speaker 2: somewhere in a desert in Israel. He apparently stored five

525
00:30:39,680 --> 00:30:43,240
Speaker 2: hundred tons of pure gold worth more than three point

526
00:30:43,320 --> 00:30:48,320
Speaker 2: seventy six trillion Ossie dollars, But two years ago historians

527
00:30:48,360 --> 00:30:52,240
Speaker 2: completely debunked this tale as a myth. Jit is vague

528
00:30:52,240 --> 00:30:55,120
Speaker 2: when I ask her about the King Solomon reference and

529
00:30:55,240 --> 00:30:57,240
Speaker 2: tells me that there are quad trillions of dollars worth

530
00:30:57,280 --> 00:31:01,280
Speaker 2: of historical funds out there. Rabbit hole is not something

531
00:31:01,320 --> 00:31:05,000
Speaker 2: I ever imagined I'd be researching for this podcast, and

532
00:31:05,040 --> 00:31:09,920
Speaker 2: it sounds, in all honesty insane with or without this

533
00:31:10,120 --> 00:31:14,200
Speaker 2: mythical pile of biblical gold. Jit also says she could

534
00:31:14,200 --> 00:31:16,800
Speaker 2: have got duff that required two point twenty five billion

535
00:31:16,840 --> 00:31:20,000
Speaker 2: dollars for the Safeworld's purchase in just a few days.

536
00:31:20,800 --> 00:31:21,920
Speaker 8: We do create money like that.

537
00:31:21,960 --> 00:31:24,239
Speaker 16: If someone invests forty four million, the banks can make

538
00:31:24,320 --> 00:31:25,920
Speaker 16: money with that by trading it.

539
00:31:26,000 --> 00:31:27,280
Speaker 8: In ten days, you'll have a billion.

540
00:31:27,920 --> 00:31:31,960
Speaker 2: That's not exactly true. There's no guarantee for something like that.

541
00:31:32,240 --> 00:31:36,400
Speaker 2: Otherwise wouldn't everyone do it? Jit sounds like the latest

542
00:31:36,480 --> 00:31:41,040
Speaker 2: in a line of unconvincing characters in this story. I'm

543
00:31:41,080 --> 00:31:45,000
Speaker 2: feeling confused and frustrated after all this, not sure what

544
00:31:45,160 --> 00:31:49,120
Speaker 2: to believe or who so imagine how Safe World's investors

545
00:31:49,120 --> 00:31:53,040
Speaker 2: were feeling. They were desperate. The chances of John Duff

546
00:31:53,160 --> 00:31:57,200
Speaker 2: paying them billions was disintegrating before their eyes, so they

547
00:31:57,240 --> 00:32:01,640
Speaker 2: took matters into their own hands. Emails to her shareholders,

548
00:32:02,320 --> 00:32:05,600
Speaker 2: Mary claimed Safewolds was using a US lawyer to broker

549
00:32:05,680 --> 00:32:09,640
Speaker 2: the Irish deal, so investors decided to contact this lawyer,

550
00:32:10,120 --> 00:32:14,320
Speaker 2: Thomas Schmull, a partner at Philadelphia law firm Dwayne Morris.

551
00:32:15,400 --> 00:32:19,000
Speaker 2: I recognize the name. Alan and then Mary had named

552
00:32:19,080 --> 00:32:21,840
Speaker 2: Thomas Schmul and his law firm over the years as

553
00:32:21,880 --> 00:32:26,520
Speaker 2: their legal advisors in updates to shareholders. But Schmul's response

554
00:32:26,560 --> 00:32:30,240
Speaker 2: to investors was surprising. Not only did he reveal he

555
00:32:30,360 --> 00:32:34,320
Speaker 2: was no longer representing Safeworlds, he was also owed money,

556
00:32:34,880 --> 00:32:38,560
Speaker 2: and he demanded that Mary stop name dropping him. He

557
00:32:38,680 --> 00:32:41,480
Speaker 2: sent an email to Mary that said, a.

558
00:32:41,440 --> 00:32:44,200
Speaker 15: Shareholder said, to us, copies of communications that you have

559
00:32:44,280 --> 00:32:47,640
Speaker 15: had with him and presumably others, which imply that either

560
00:32:47,720 --> 00:32:51,600
Speaker 15: I or Dwayne Morris represent you, the company and or

561
00:32:51,680 --> 00:32:55,800
Speaker 15: its shareholders, we do not, and therefore we must insist

562
00:32:55,840 --> 00:32:59,760
Speaker 15: that you cease representing stating or applying to anyone that

563
00:32:59,800 --> 00:33:03,320
Speaker 15: we we now represent the company at shareholders, you, or

564
00:33:03,360 --> 00:33:07,240
Speaker 15: any prospective purchaser in connection with any sale of the company,

565
00:33:07,760 --> 00:33:11,160
Speaker 15: and given what is transpired, it is highly likely that

566
00:33:11,200 --> 00:33:14,760
Speaker 15: we would decline to represent any such parties going forward.

567
00:33:15,400 --> 00:33:17,400
Speaker 2: In another email, Schmul said.

568
00:33:17,640 --> 00:33:20,520
Speaker 15: We referred to certain conditions for our firms involvement in

569
00:33:20,600 --> 00:33:23,400
Speaker 15: the transaction in the event which we did not and

570
00:33:23,560 --> 00:33:27,000
Speaker 15: do not consider to be likely that mister Duff proceeds

571
00:33:27,120 --> 00:33:28,640
Speaker 15: with the purchase and funds it.

572
00:33:29,560 --> 00:33:32,760
Speaker 2: Those conditions were that they needed proof from Duff's bank

573
00:33:33,160 --> 00:33:36,120
Speaker 2: that he really did have access to billions of dollars

574
00:33:36,760 --> 00:33:40,440
Speaker 2: and that he would settle an outstanding payment Safeworld's owed

575
00:33:40,480 --> 00:33:43,680
Speaker 2: to the law firm. Thomas Schmull also said he was

576
00:33:43,800 --> 00:33:47,120
Speaker 2: unable to assure himself of the required due diligence in

577
00:33:47,200 --> 00:33:50,080
Speaker 2: relation to the whole deal. The lawyer and his firm

578
00:33:50,160 --> 00:33:53,680
Speaker 2: did not respond to my questions at this point. The

579
00:33:53,720 --> 00:33:58,920
Speaker 2: whole Safeworld's John Duff CIA Agent Biblical goal Us Law

580
00:33:58,960 --> 00:34:03,320
Speaker 2: Firm drama is a swirling mix of contradictory claims and counterclaims,

581
00:34:03,600 --> 00:34:07,160
Speaker 2: with Safeboard investors completely unable to work out what was

582
00:34:07,200 --> 00:34:10,120
Speaker 2: fake and what was real, if anything even was to

583
00:34:10,200 --> 00:34:14,560
Speaker 2: begin with, and then the multi billion dollar Irish rescue

584
00:34:14,560 --> 00:34:19,000
Speaker 2: of the business faulted. It just never happened. Mary went quiet.

585
00:34:19,719 --> 00:34:22,400
Speaker 2: Rod shared his thoughts about that in another email to

586
00:34:22,440 --> 00:34:23,800
Speaker 2: Mary in twenty twenty.

587
00:34:24,080 --> 00:34:27,560
Speaker 13: You have overseen the demise of a fifty million dollar

588
00:34:27,640 --> 00:34:31,799
Speaker 13: company made up predominantly of mum and dad investors.

589
00:34:32,719 --> 00:34:35,799
Speaker 2: John Duff is ninety years old now. I attempt to

590
00:34:35,840 --> 00:34:38,880
Speaker 2: contact him for comment by emailing him and contacting the

591
00:34:38,960 --> 00:34:41,800
Speaker 2: nursing home he's now living in. I never hear back,

592
00:34:42,360 --> 00:34:45,560
Speaker 2: so I write to Mary again. She tells me over email.

593
00:34:46,400 --> 00:34:49,840
Speaker 1: We had a contract subject to finance with John Duff

594
00:34:49,880 --> 00:34:53,399
Speaker 1: for US two point two five b in to buy

595
00:34:53,400 --> 00:34:58,879
Speaker 1: the world license. Unfortunately, the contract fell through. Unfortunately, some

596
00:34:58,920 --> 00:35:02,160
Speaker 1: of our shareholders say tacked and criticized him to such

597
00:35:02,160 --> 00:35:05,239
Speaker 1: a degree that he decided to wipe his hands of

598
00:35:05,320 --> 00:35:09,799
Speaker 1: further involvement in the corporation. Since then, I have had

599
00:35:09,840 --> 00:35:13,360
Speaker 1: a blanket rule that until a purchaser is close to completion,

600
00:35:13,840 --> 00:35:18,200
Speaker 1: I cannot reveal his or her name and details. This

601
00:35:18,280 --> 00:35:22,279
Speaker 1: seems to be the most sensible rule. I and before me,

602
00:35:22,560 --> 00:35:26,360
Speaker 1: my late husband, were both satisfied that he was genuine.

603
00:35:27,760 --> 00:35:30,160
Speaker 2: But I want to talk to Mary face to face,

604
00:35:30,960 --> 00:35:33,759
Speaker 2: so I fly up to the Gold Coast. I knew

605
00:35:33,760 --> 00:35:36,520
Speaker 2: it would come to this point somewhere down the line.

606
00:35:36,560 --> 00:35:39,359
Speaker 2: She's the only one really who knows what to make

607
00:35:39,400 --> 00:35:42,680
Speaker 2: of all this. The prospect of seeing her after all

608
00:35:42,719 --> 00:35:46,640
Speaker 2: my months of investigations is nerve racking but also exciting.

609
00:35:47,400 --> 00:35:50,480
Speaker 2: Mary might have answers. She might be able to help

610
00:35:50,480 --> 00:35:53,520
Speaker 2: me understand what happened, what happened to all the money.

611
00:35:54,320 --> 00:35:56,719
Speaker 2: But if this doesn't go well, maybe I'll never know,

612
00:35:57,160 --> 00:36:01,319
Speaker 2: and neither will all the investors. Circle around Mary's block

613
00:36:01,360 --> 00:36:04,960
Speaker 2: a few times, psyching myself up. Then I weighed through

614
00:36:05,040 --> 00:36:08,120
Speaker 2: long grass to a humble looking one story brick house.

615
00:36:08,800 --> 00:36:15,839
Speaker 2: I wrapped my knuckles against a fly screen door. It's yeah, Hi, Mary,

616
00:36:16,160 --> 00:36:20,040
Speaker 2: It's Alston mc cohen from dot com. Are you from

617
00:36:20,120 --> 00:36:23,640
Speaker 2: news dot com? Are you? I think we spoke. Yeah,

618
00:36:23,760 --> 00:36:25,800
Speaker 2: I was really happy to chat to you again about

619
00:36:25,840 --> 00:36:26,359
Speaker 2: the same pod.

620
00:36:26,440 --> 00:36:28,320
Speaker 14: I really don't want to talk about.

621
00:36:28,120 --> 00:36:30,440
Speaker 3: It gone missing.

622
00:36:31,080 --> 00:36:33,600
Speaker 2: The forty nine million dollars has gone missing.

623
00:36:33,680 --> 00:36:37,560
Speaker 3: Forty million dollars in the project. It's it hasn't gone missing.

624
00:36:37,880 --> 00:36:38,319
Speaker 2: Where is it?

625
00:36:38,320 --> 00:36:38,480
Speaker 1: Then?

626
00:36:38,520 --> 00:36:39,280
Speaker 8: With the money.

627
00:36:39,960 --> 00:36:44,640
Speaker 3: Well, it's been spent on the project developing the system.

628
00:36:43,840 --> 00:36:46,280
Speaker 2: But how is all that money spent on a project

629
00:36:46,280 --> 00:36:47,319
Speaker 2: that nobody ever saw.

630
00:36:47,600 --> 00:36:50,360
Speaker 3: The investors know what we've done. We've done a Bajor

631
00:36:50,520 --> 00:36:53,360
Speaker 3: test for over three years. They know the system, and

632
00:36:54,000 --> 00:36:59,719
Speaker 3: ASIK investigated the system from November to July, they found nothing.

633
00:37:01,200 --> 00:37:04,480
Speaker 1: Couldn't recommend that that's what it was.

634
00:37:04,640 --> 00:37:08,840
Speaker 3: Just that we didn't register the US company in Australia.

635
00:37:08,280 --> 00:37:08,839
Speaker 2: And that we.

636
00:37:10,480 --> 00:37:13,839
Speaker 3: Solved too many shareholders in one year and.

637
00:37:13,760 --> 00:37:14,279
Speaker 4: That was it.

638
00:37:14,320 --> 00:37:15,760
Speaker 1: Well, you didn't make him right this plasure.

639
00:37:16,840 --> 00:37:17,719
Speaker 3: I don't want to talk to.

640
00:37:19,440 --> 00:37:21,839
Speaker 2: Mary doesn't want to continue to talk to me after

641
00:37:21,880 --> 00:37:25,839
Speaker 2: this point, so I leave. Some shareholders have surmised Mary

642
00:37:25,920 --> 00:37:28,480
Speaker 2: might have been living the high life using their money,

643
00:37:28,880 --> 00:37:32,080
Speaker 2: but I certainly haven't seen any evidence of that. As

644
00:37:32,080 --> 00:37:35,560
Speaker 2: I've said, her home was pretty ordinary looking and property

645
00:37:35,600 --> 00:37:38,879
Speaker 2: records show she doesn't even own it. She rents there

646
00:37:38,960 --> 00:37:42,360
Speaker 2: and doesn't have any real estate under her name. Meanwhile,

647
00:37:42,440 --> 00:37:45,239
Speaker 2: her son Clayton, part owns a mortgaged house in the

648
00:37:45,239 --> 00:37:48,279
Speaker 2: Gold Coast with his wife. He doesn't have any other

649
00:37:48,360 --> 00:37:51,719
Speaker 2: properties that I could see. Could Alan have hidden the

650
00:37:51,719 --> 00:37:55,439
Speaker 2: money so well that not even his own family knew

651
00:37:55,480 --> 00:37:59,120
Speaker 2: where to find it? Or is Mary right? Was the

652
00:37:59,160 --> 00:38:02,239
Speaker 2: money all spent on safe worlds? But then why aren't

653
00:38:02,239 --> 00:38:05,600
Speaker 2: there any financial reports from the company? Are nothing more

654
00:38:05,640 --> 00:38:09,279
Speaker 2: than a clunky, disused website to show for it? Or

655
00:38:09,360 --> 00:38:12,759
Speaker 2: is it possible something else happened? I think I know

656
00:38:12,840 --> 00:38:15,920
Speaker 2: where to look next to find out. It involves a

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00:38:15,960 --> 00:38:20,480
Speaker 2: mystery gold that you can't physically touch and the notorious

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00:38:20,560 --> 00:38:24,800
Speaker 2: Cayman Islands. That's next time on the missing forty nine million.

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00:38:32,520 --> 00:38:36,200
Speaker 5: Now that I've seen a certificate the digital belt doesn't exist.

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00:38:37,160 --> 00:38:37,640
Speaker 2: Looks fake.

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00:38:37,800 --> 00:38:39,879
Speaker 8: That's the most fake certificate I've ever seen.

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00:38:40,360 --> 00:38:42,280
Speaker 13: A class action may well result.

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Speaker 10: They are told I'm a thing by Alan Lloy's what

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00:38:47,000 --> 00:38:50,160
Speaker 10: that was? In a safe somewhere? I see thing dies, Laura?

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00:38:50,520 --> 00:38:53,600
Speaker 10: What's going to happen all this information? And I was

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00:38:53,680 --> 00:38:56,720
Speaker 10: told that it's in a safe a safe place.

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00:39:00,680 --> 00:39:03,520
Speaker 2: Thanks for listening. A new episode is coming out weekly

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00:39:03,600 --> 00:39:06,960
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Speaker 2: you don't miss an episode. Head to news dot com

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00:39:10,000 --> 00:39:12,880
Speaker 2: dot Au to read more of my reporting on this story.

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Speaker 8: Do you know more?

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Speaker 2: Get in touch through our dedicated tip inbox Missing Millions

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00:39:17,719 --> 00:39:20,840
Speaker 2: at news dot com dot au or contact me directly

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00:39:20,920 --> 00:39:24,680
Speaker 2: on Alex dot Turner, Dash Cohen at news dot com dodau,

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Speaker 2: or look me up on Twitter to get my details.

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00:39:27,640 --> 00:39:30,680
Speaker 2: I'm your host, Alex Turner Cohen. Nina Young is the

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Speaker 2: executive producer. Sound design and editing by Tiffany Dimack. Our

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00:39:35,320 --> 00:39:39,719
Speaker 2: editorial director is Dan Box. Grant McAvaney is our legal advisor,

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00:39:39,840 --> 00:39:42,720
Speaker 2: and Kerrie Warren is the editor of news dot com Doreau.

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00:39:43,440 --> 00:39:47,840
Speaker 2: Special thanks to our voice actors Margo Murphy, Andrea Tis Evanson,

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Speaker 2: Sherene Khalil, James Morrow, John ty Burton, Paul Byrne and

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Speaker 2: Briel Burns. Also thanks to producer Bechday for her helpful

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Speaker 2: I Was in the Gold Coast