A Melbourne celebrity landscaper is being chased in court for allegedly failing to repay $2.6 million to members of the ultra-wealthy Smorgon dynasty.
Smorgon heiress Bindy Koadlow and her husband, David, launched Supreme Court action earlier this month against Dave and Jane Franklin, seeking to recover a multimillion-dollar loan made to the award-winning landscape and pool designer who has featured on The Block.
The Koadlows allege that their family investment company, Binvid, lent the Franklins $2.5 million in March last year for 12 months, but that the monthly interest payment was not properly fulfilled.
They are seeking the return of the money they allege they lent the family and interest payments.
The loan was issued just weeks after Franklin’s “boutique” landscaping and pool construction outfit Franklin Landscape & Design entered into voluntary liquidation.
The Koadlows’ loan is registered as the sole mortgage on the Franklin’s 1913 Federation home in Black Rock just a few hundred metres from Half Moon Bay and in the suburb’s exclusive “Golden Triangle”.
The home was bought in Jane’s name in March last year for $3.3 million three weeks after David Franklin placed one arm of his landscaping business into liquidation.
The home is a significant upgrade on the couple’s previous $2.7 million home in Beaumaris.
The lawsuit comes after a difficult period for the high-profile green thumb.
Last year, the Tax Office successfully enforced a director penalty notice against Franklin in the County Court, making him personally liable for $2.4 million in unpaid tax debts across four of his companies.
On top of the taxman’s and the Koadlows’ claims, two of Franklin’s businesses have dipped into liquidation in the past 14 months, while a third company involved in pool design has been working with a restructuring practitioner.
Franklin has been putting on a brave face as he battles through a difficult financial period across some parts of his business, proudly promoting his new TV show on the NineNow Network, Australia’s Best Pools, after a 12-season run as a star tradie on The Block. (This masthead and Nine Network are both owned by Nine Entertainment.)
The highly sought-after landscaper has also been battling health issues. He announced in June that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer, but hoped doctors had caught it at an early stage.
At the same time, the main operating company for Franklin’s business – Franklin Group Australia – is continuing with building his desirable outdoor living designs.
The Franklins did not respond to a series of detailed questions about their financial affairs.
A lawyer for Dave Franklin said allegations that he had failed to repay a significant loan were false.
The lawyer also criticised allegations the popular TV figure was facing financial issues in his business and might not expect his business to continue as a going concern.
The claim by the Koadlows has not been made against the Franklin Group Australia business or any of the companies within Franklin’s landscaping, design and pool business.
Instead, the family, which includes the daughter of business magnate and philanthropist Victor Smorgon, is suing the Franklins personally and a company that manages a family trust.
A liquidators’ report from April last year shows David Franklin’s business – Franklin Landscape & Design – was suspected of owing its creditors $6.5 million at the time of its collapse.
This included a $2.3 million bill from the Tax Office and another $3.2 million allegedly owed by the company to the Koadlows.
The report noted, however, that the Koadlows had discharged their security over the debt and refinanced the loan. A later report on a meeting of creditors for the group in May, did not include the $3.2 million debt owed to the Koadlows, indicating that the couple was not seeking to enforce the loan.
At the time of its voluntary liquidation, the employment of all staff and their entitlements had been transferred to Franklin Group Australia, according to the report.
The liquidators also said that from their preliminary review of the Franklin Landscape & Design books and records that the company may have been insolvent since September 2024 – if not earlier because of the group’s longstanding issues with the Tax Office.
The lawyer for the Franklins said any allegation the business had traded while insolvent was false.
A separate company, Franklin Design Studio, was ordered into liquidation by the Federal Court last year over unpaid tax debts. That company owes its creditors a little over $250,000. The report noted the business was transferred to a different entity before it was wound up.
Another part of the group, Franklin’s pool business, remains operating after appointing a restructuring practitioner to nut out a deal with its creditors in February last year.
Documents filed with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission show that restructuring plan lapsed late last year after it was not fulfilled.
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