Gold Coast filmmaker Luke Sparke will face a fresh fraud trial after a judge discharged the jury in a case involving allegations that he concealed his bankrupt status while securing millions of dollars in film financing.
Sparke, 42, has pleaded not guilty to 17 charges relating to alleged offences between February 2017 and November 2019. The trial at Brisbane District Court had been expected to last four weeks but was halted on its second day of evidence.
Judge Glen Cranny dismissed the jury after prosecutors introduced additional evidence. The defence argued that the late material was unfair and sought to have the charges thrown out.
But Judge Cranny ruled on Tuesday that the prosecution had not acted improperly and ordered that the case be heard again before a new jury. A date for the retrial is expected to be set in the coming weeks.
The charges centre on loans allegedly obtained to finance Sparke’s films, including personal guarantees he is accused of giving without disclosing that he was bankrupt.
Sparke became bankrupt in 2017. The prosecution alleges he secured credit and incurred liabilities while failing to provide lenders with a complete account of his financial position.
Accountant Terence Rose told the court that debts linked to Sparkefilms Pty Ltd, the company through which Sparke made the science-fiction film Occupation, had reached between $11 million and $17 million.
“At one stage … it was around about $11 million, and there were some secured creditors there as well, which were about $6 million,” Mr Rose said. “I recall by the time I did the dividend, they were probably up towards about $17 million.”
Sparkefilms entered administration in early 2018 and was wound up in August 2020. Occupation, released in May 2018, was made on a reported budget of about $6 million, much of it raised through private loans.
The court also heard that the company had about 74 creditors. Terence van der Velde, who acted as Sparke’s bankruptcy trustee, said some creditors had not been included in the filmmaker’s statement of affairs.
Tika Shelton, an investigator with the Australian Financial Security Authority, told the court that one of Sparke’s main backers, Jim Carney, had provided money to clear almost $700,000 in debts that had contributed to the filmmaker’s bankruptcy.
Mr Carney had asked Sparke to provide a statutory declaration listing his personal debts and the liabilities of his companies. Ms Shelton said several creditors and amounts had been omitted, meaning the declaration did not reflect the full scale of his financial obligations.
Non-disclosure of bankruptcy when obtaining credit of more than $3,000 carries a potential prison sentence of up to five years for each charge.
The case has not prevented Sparke from continuing to develop film and television projects. He is working on a series titled Dinosaurs of the Wild West and recently released Primitive War, a Vietnam War and dinosaur film made on a reported $7 million budget.
The retrial will determine whether Sparke committed the alleged offences. He remains entitled to the presumption of innocence unless and until proved guilty.
