EXCLUSIVE INVESTIGATION – PART FIVE: The scandal-ridden owner of Australia’s largest self-proclaimed LGBTIQ media group Evo Media has finally been located as cameras were present at the very moment he was served documents by ASIC for a range of corporate crimes this week in Sydney.
- EVO MEDIA COMPANY DIRECTOR MARK ANTHONY SERVED BY ASIC AS TRUE CRIME NEWS WEEKLY ASKS A SERIES OF QUESTIONS ON CAMERA
- EXPLOSIVE CLAIMS THE AIDS COUNCIL OF NSW (ACON) WOULD ALLEGEDLY PROVIDE HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF TAXPAYERS DOLLARS AT END OF EACH FINANCIAL YEAR FOR NO SERVICES IN RETURN FROM EVO MEDIA
- NSW HEALTH MOCKS ALLEGED MURDER PLOT INVOLVING SENIOR ACON PERSONNEL AND INSTEAD THREATENS TRUE CRIME NEWS WEEKLY TO “STOP” ASKING QUESTIONS BEFORE BACKTRACKING
- ICAC RECEIVES REPORT ABOUT CORRUPTION INVOLVING EVO MEDIA, ACON & OTHERS
Mark Christopher Anthony, 48, was served by the corporate regulator outside the John Maddison Tower in Sydney’s CBD just before midday on Wednesday, May 17. Two investigators from ASIC served Mr Anthony with the documents after confirming his identity.
WATCH THE DRAMATIC EVENTS AS ASIC SERVES EVO MEDIA COMPANY DIRECTOR MARK ANTHONY WHILE TRUE CRIME NEWS WEEKLY ASKS QUESTIONS
While being served by ASIC, True Crime News Weekly asked the gaunt and nervous-looking Mr Anthony a series of questions about the alleged scams and frauds he has pulled over many years as the company director of Evo Media and its previous incarnation, Evolution Publishing.
Mr Anthony refused to comment. Instead, he chose to glare icily ahead and ignore True Crime News Weekly before walking down the street.
It is believed ASIC are considering placing even further charges upon Mr Anthony at a future date. It is also understood the company director is under investigation by NSW Police over alleged fraud offences.
Earlier in the day, Mr Anthony was involved in a court case where he is alleged to have broken a lease with the landlord for Evo Media’s former offices on 140 William Street, Woolloomooloo and is now left owing close to $60,000.
The case will resume next Tuesday on May 23 at 2pm at the John Maddison Tower after Mr Anthony claimed he was going to call a line-up of 18 witnesses to support his version of events. Mr Anthony seems to be representing himself in the case. It is unclear if it is because he can no longer afford a lawyer.
True Crime News Weekly has however been contacted by a number of people who Mr Anthony has listed as a witness on his behalf who say that they will not be appearing for him, with some saying they are owed tens of thousands of dollars by Mr Anthony.
READ OUR EXCLUSIVE INVESTIGATION IN FULL
PART ONE: Scams, Frauds & Crimes? Employees lift lid on Evo Media and queer power games
PART THREE: Evo Media caught out with owners now locked out of cafe as debt collectors & authorities come calling
In new developments, True Crime News Weekly can also confirm that an official report of corruption has been filed with the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) naming several parties connected to Evo Media, ACON as well as others.
The report to ICAC comes after fresh information True Crime News Weekly has received suggesting that towards the end of each financial year ACON would give up to hundreds of thousands of dollars to Evolution Publishing and Evo Media in return for no services whatsoever.
One wonders whether Mr Anthony used the taxpayer funds to funnel into his now-defunct cafe, Locanda Olivetti, which he spent almost $500,000 on rather than paying his staff their wages appropriately or ever paying superannuation.
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The dramatic events come as NSW Health mocked and ridiculed a serious alleged threat of murder by people highly connected to ACON and its under-fire CEO, Nicolas Parkhill. The alleged murder plot was mistakenly sent to this publication, which was its intended victim, instead of Mr Parkhill.
NSW Police are taking the alleged threat to organise a murder hit against the editor of this publication extremely seriously and have commenced an investigation.
True Crime News Weekly contacted NSW Health’s acting director of public affairs, Rachel Gleeson, this week to seek comment on whether it was aware of the possible murder plot involving Mr Parkhill and his close friend and former ACON 10-year “senior manager”, Michael Badorrek.
Mr Badorrek was responsible in his role at ACON as its head of media and marketing for directing millions of dollars of taxpayers money to Evo Media over a period of 10 years, despite repeated warnings of the alleged corporate crimes occurring at the media organisation.
Mr Badorrek now works at the Thailand-based HIV / AIDS organisation APCOM where interestingly enough Mr Parkhill sits on the board of directors. And in perhaps a coincidence, or maybe something more sinister, Mr Badorrek was replaced in his role at ACON this March by none other than former Evo Media “senior manager” Reg Domingo – whom dozens of colleagues have alleged either enabled or turned a blind eye to the rorts taking place at Evo Media and Evolution Publishing over a period of many years.
Rather than answering any questions, Ms Gleeson in a fluster threatened True Crime News Weekly, saying this publication needs to stop asking questions of NSW Health and ACON, before proceeding to hang up.
“You need to stop contacting us all the time. We are just really … This is ridiculous. This is ridiculous. Goodbye,” Ms Gleeson said as she slammed the phone down.
Ms Gleeson then refused to answer her phone or reply to one further email querying her behaviour or whether she had any comment to make about a possible ICAC investigation. True Crime News Weekly can state that it has not phoned NSW Health since early April and has simply sent a few short emails in that time updating them of the progress of our investigation.
On her LinkedIn profile, Ms Gleeson describes herself as “focused, cool and reliable under pressure”. She certainly didn’t sound like that when True Crime News Weekly came calling this week. Ms Gleeson’s dismissal of a serious murder threat against an investigative journalist is all the more strange considering she was once a “journalist at a national award-winning regional newspaper and publishing company producing national magazines”.
As mentioned by international media outlet Gay Star News in its coverage of the alleged murder threats, according to Reporters Without Borders, 74 journalists were murdered in 2016, while 259 journalists were jailed for simply doing their job and asking questions.
With Ms Gleeson perhaps realising that she had possibly now landed her government department in some hot water, True Crime News Weekly received an unprompted email message from the public affairs unit of NSW Health late on Thursday, May 18.
“I refer to a number of emails and telephone calls you have made to the NSW Health Media team between 4 April 2017 and today, seeking comments on issues concerning allegations about ACON and Evo Media and individuals associated with these organisations,” the unsigned email from NSW Health reads.
“Neither ACON nor Evo Media are NSW Health organisations, nor are the individuals you identify employees of NSW Health. Therefore it is not appropriate for NSW Health to comment on these issues.
“The matters you raise involve serious allegations of threats and corruption which you advise have been reported to NSW Police and the Independent Commission Against Corruption. These are the appropriate organisations to manage such matters.
“Please do not direct any further requests for comment on these issues to members of the Media Unit at the Ministry of Health.”
Despite NSW Health’s attempts to wash its hands of the scandal and claim it has no control over ACON, the LGBTIQ health body admits on its own website that it is “primarily funded by the NSW Government through the NSW Ministry of Health”.
It is unclear what KPIs or benchmarks the NSW Government or NSW Health sets in its relationship with ACON in exchange for at least $10 million of taxpayers money each year.
Earlier this month, NSW Health saw fit to hand ACON another $500,000 — this time apparently to support new suicide prevention programs. The funding announced by the Minister of Mental Health, Tanya Davies, is supposedly to be used on training GPs in Sydney’s inner-city to “increase their knowledge of and capacity to respond to the needs of LGBTI people at risk of suicide”.
One wonders why the funding isn’t being used in regional areas where suicide rates are higher when the inner-city of Sydney is perhaps already the most LGBTIQ-friendly area in all of Australia and has a cluster of well-trained medical professionals who are exposed to LGBTIQ issues everyday. True Crime News Weekly has previously reported that about 80% of ACON’s total income is spent on staff wages rather than providing services to people living with HIV / AIDS.
The continuing silence from politicians involved in the scandal also remains deafening with Sydney Independent MP Alex Greenwich once again refusing to provide any sort of comment or offer any sort of public assistance to the dozens of employees affected by the long-running alleged scams which occurred in his electorate.
Mr Greenwich’s office was sent queries by True Crime News Weekly on why he is refusing to comment, but once again he chose to stay silent. A poll that has been running on True Crime News Weekly to coincide with our investigation has seen 75% of readers calling for authorities to investigate both Evo Media as well as ACON.
DISCLOSURE: True Crime News Weekly editor Serkan Ozturk was employed with Evolution Publishing between 2011-13 and was the person who first blew the whistle on the company over its consistent failure to pay employee entitlements and superannuation as well as claims of circulation and advertising rorts. If you have any information about this investigation, get in contact with True Crime News Weekly.
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