The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) today announces that Michael James Maunder has been disqualified from managing corporations for five years for his involvement in three failed companies.

Between 2017 and 2020, Mr Maunder was a director of the three companies that went into liquidation:

• Digital Rebl Pty Ltd ACN 623 016 464 (Digital Rebl);
• Media Rebl Pty Ltd ACN 623 016 491 (Media Rebl); and
• Business Rebl Pty Ltd ACN 625 534 081 (Business Rebl).

Digital Rebl and Media Rebl operated a business known as Rebl Corp which arranged finance agreements between customers and financiers in exchange for certain marketing rights from the customers.

In making its decision, ASIC found that Mr Maunder:

• failed to exercise his powers and discharge his duties with due care and diligence in relation to all three companies;
• engaged in conduct to gain an advantage for himself or cause detriment to Business Rebl;
• allowed Digital Rebl to provide loans to and accept services from related entities without agreements in place to recover the loans, or pay for the services;
• Allowed Media Rebl to provide services to, provide loans to and accept loans from related entities, without any agreements in place to repay or recover any of these funds; and
• Failed to prevent Digital Rebl and Media Rebl from incurring debts when there were reasonable grounds for suspecting both companies were trading while insolvent.

Total deficiency across the three companies was approximately $5.6 million, $3.7 million of which was owed to unsecured creditors.

Mr Maunder is disqualified from managing corporations until 23 March 2026.

Let’s recall that, back in 2019, the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) confirmed it had received a number of complaints from small businesses about an agreement to rent Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software from two financial firms who are AFCA members.

The CRM software was introduced to small business by Rebl Corp, Digital Rebl and/or Media Rebl with an online advertising package.

Digital Rebl agreed to pay the small businesses an amount equal to the rental cost of the CRM software but has now stopped trading. The small businesses do not want the CRM software rental agreement to continue.

AFCA encouraged any small business with a concern about a finance agreement they entered when dealing with the Rebl Corp group to contact their financial firm first to allow the financial firm to resolve the complaint directly with them.

If the complaint is not resolved, or the business is in financial difficulty due to any arrangement with the financial firm, the next step is to lodge a complaint with AFCA online, via email or by telephone.