Source : THE AGE NEWS
When an employee of non-bank lender Oak Capital was chased through the lobby of the Rialto in Melbourne’s CBD by a TV reporter 18 months ago and cornered in a women’s toilet cubicle, it was seen as tabloid media behaving badly.
But now Oak Capital Wholesale Fund, which lends to businesses and individuals using real estate as collateral, is in liquidation, a legal case against it from the corporate regulator is frozen, and the employee who worked in the company’s lending operation and at the centre of the foot chase, Mo Ahmed, is accused of being a bankrupt.
Oak Capital, which in 2024 said it had $700 million in funds under management, was recently tipped into liquidation, and appointed Robson Cotter Insolvency Group. The move temporarily halted two separate litigation cases in the Victorian Supreme Court and the Federal Court of Australia, in which the company is accused of unconscionable conduct.
The TV report never made it to air after Oak Capital filed a Supreme Court injunction. Nine’s A Current Affair agreed never to air the footage, and the reporter later left the network (Nine is the owner of this masthead). And Ahmed, who subsequently left the company and is not a party to any legal action, denies through his lawyers that he is the same Mo Ahmed who was made bankrupt in 2020.
During his time at the company, Ahmed authored aggressive emails to borrowers who defaulted on loans, and threatened to seize assets. (The court cases against Oak Capital do not allege Ahmed is responsible for these practices.)
One borrower to receive such messages from Ahmed was builder Peter Aquino, whose business Construct Homes borrowed from Oak Capital via a business loan and who has pursued the company for years after he defaulted on a loan and Oak Capital moved to sell his assets.
“I was shocked and angry. To me, Mo Ahmed was the face of Oak’s destruction [of my business], of my ruination,” Aquino said.
“Discovering he had been bankrupt left me questioning how someone in that position could be employed by an Australian Financial Services Licence holder.”
After missing a payment, Oak Capital moved quickly to repossess some of Aquino’s properties. The company then refused to allow him to pay out his loan.
When contacted by this masthead, Ahmed asked for questions about his time at Oak Capital – during which he was formally employed by a related company, OC Group Services – to be put in writing, along with questions about a bankruptcy report.
A lawyer at Mark O’Brien Legal responded with a letter marked “private and confidential – not for publication”.
A report from insolvency firm Vincents said, “Mohamoud Jama Ahmed also known as Mo Ahmed” was declared bankrupt in October 2020.
An Australian Financial Security Authority search listed that Mohamoud Jama Ahmed was declared bankrupt in October 2020, and due to be discharged in October 2028.
Two separate emails written by executives at Vincents and sighted by this masthead confirm Ahmed had worked at Oak Capital.
A rental application for a property that later became the subject of Supreme Court proceedings over unpaid rent included a screenshot of a passport for Mohamoud Jama Ahmed, which listed the same birthdate as the bankruptcy report. The rental application also listed his place of work as Oak Capital, which was confirmed by the real estate agent.
‘I feel I have stopped this happening to other people. When they take your business and house, you are in a vulnerable position. I just want to be a builder. I miss it.’
Builder Peter Acquino
Ahmed’s brother, Jama Ahmed, told this masthead he was unaware of his brother’s current whereabouts.
In late 2025, prior to liquidation, Oak Capital was sold to Bowral Capital, a company founded by lawyer Paul Reese, who also founded Summer Lawyers and Kingston & Partners: legal firms that had undertaken enforcement action against Oak Capital clients.
Oak Capital founder Stephen Mitchell, along with fellow Oak Capital director Craig Robertson, has since set up a new company called Raglan Consulting.
The liquidation has frozen the Federal Court action by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) against two related companies (Oak Capital Mortgage Fund Ltd and Oak Capital Wholesale Fund Pty Ltd).
The corporate regulator accuses Oak Capital of unconscionable conduct over 47 loans to people between November 2019 and March 2023 totalling $27 million, and of structuring its loans to avoid the National Credit Code, which protects consumers. Unconscionable conduct is when a business takes advantage of another in a way that is seriously wrong, such as pressuring someone to sign a contract they don’t fully understand.
At the time of the ASIC charges, the company denied the allegations and said all its loans complied with relevant laws and industry standards.
The corporate regulator will return to court to pursue the case after the liquidation. “ASIC intends to seek leave to proceed against Oak Capital,” an ASIC spokeswoman said.
Aquino, who accompanied the team from A Current Affair on the highly publicised chase through the Rialto, recently returned for the first time after the fateful events.
“I felt like a blue-collar worker in a white-collar world. Nobody wanted to fight Oak Capital,” Aquino said.
“No one would listen to me, I had to close my business down.”
Aquino has mounted a three-year investigation into Oak Capital after he was unable to continue working as a builder. He was forced to close his business after taking loans from Oak Capital and missing a payment, but is continuing his Supreme Court action against the company for unconscionable conduct. After the liquidation, a Victorian judge issued an order that Aquino’s action can proceed.
Aquino accuses the company of aggressive penalties and interest charges.
“I feel I have stopped this happening to other people. When they take your business and house, you are in a vulnerable position,” he said. “I just want to be a builder. I miss it.”
After he sued Oak Capital, the company put his building company into receivership.
“These properties were taken from me extremely quickly, including vacant land I had purchased for nearly $3 million, despite only a short delay in payment,” Aquino said.
“What’s most concerning is how aggressively enforcement action was taken, and the broader system behind it, which is now being examined in court.
“With the companies now in liquidation, there are still serious unanswered questions about how this all occurred and who is ultimately responsible.”
Aquino has been successful in his application before the court to add Stephen Mitchell, the Oak Capital founder and chief executive, as a defendant to his action.
Mitchell said it would be inappropriate to comment on active litigation.
“I am unable to say more at this time, save that I firmly oppose the claim and intend to defend it in full, as will be evident from the steps taken in the course of the proceedings,” Mitchell said.
In February, Mitchell and fellow director Robertson set up Raglan Consulting, described by Mitchell as “just a consulting company”.
Its website describes Raglan Consulting as “specialist consultants in the second tier and private lending market, with combined experience of over 40 years”.
Robertson declined to comment when contacted by this masthead.
Financial statements from 2024-25 audited by KPMG found one Oak Capital company had $8 million in funds and $22 million in assets under management.
Robson Cotter Insolvency Group was appointed liquidators on May 22. In a report dated June 3, Robson Cotter wrote: “The directors have advised me that the business of the company [Oak Capital] was sold to Bowral Capital Pty Ltd in or around November 2025. I understand that the company ceased to trade at or around that same time.
“The directors have further informed me that the company ceased trading as a result of regulatory action and legal proceedings commenced by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), which resulted in the company incurring significant legal costs and other commercial impacts.”
Paul Reese, who founded Bowral Capital, said in a statement: “For the sake of accuracy, Bowral Capital has not acquired any Oak Capital assets. Bowral Capital’s role is simply to manage the Oak Capital Wholesale Fund.”
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Stephen Brook is a special correspondent for The Age and CBD columnist for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. He was previously deputy editor of The Sunday Age. He is a former media editor of The Australian and spent six years in London working for The Guardian.Connect via X or email.
