Sacked Dubber boss could lose multimillion-dollar home

Ex-Dubber boss Steve McGovern could lose his home after failing to pay a $2 million mortgage, which he took out the day before the ASX-listed tech company halted trading to investigate the missing $27 million McGovern is accused of siphoning out to gangland identities.

Macquarie Bank’s move to repossess McGovern’s property is the latest in a series of troubles for the sacked chief executive, who is staring down potential criminal prosecution after a year-long ASIC probe into the missing millions, and a lawsuit launched by Dubber in July.

This masthead first revealed in a two-part investigation the gangland influence held over the tech company, uncovering an internal company report that detailed how $30 million of Dubber’s cash, supposed to be invested in a term deposit, was instead used as a personal piggy bank for underworld figures who had long funded McGovern’s private business investments.

Gangland lawyer Mark Madafferi, a friend and long-time business associate of McGovern, is accused of forging documents to deceive Dubber’s board that the cash was locked up in a term deposit account – instead keeping the money in the trust account of his North Melbourne firm, Christopher William Legal.

A KPMG report detailed that more than $90 million was funnelled into the trust account between 2016 and 2024.

Almost $75 million came from money raised from Dubber’s unknowing shareholders in various capital raisings.

In early 2024, over two years after the money landed in Madafferi’s account, the men’s scheme spectacularly unravelled after a company audit revealed $26.6 million had disappeared.

Dubber entered into a trading halt on February 27, 2024, after the discovery. Within days, McGovern was suspended and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission launched an investigation into Madafferi and McGovern.

Fresh court documents reveal that the day before the trading halt, McGovern took out a $1.9 million mortgage on his Warrandyte home.

About the same time, Madafferi was emailing Dubber’s board members, assuring them the money was locked up in the term deposit account that never existed, according to documents lodged by the company in the Victorian Supreme Court.

Macquarie Bank launched proceedings in the same court this month to repossess the four-bedroom home McGovern inherited in 2004, perched in a quiet cul-de-sac in the north-eastern Melbourne suburb.

The bank issued a default notice to the 60-year-old in May after he failed to make any of the monthly repayments. A Macquarie spokesperson declined to comment, citing the ongoing court case.

McGovern’s other residence, a Collingwood apartment bought in 2013, was re-mortgaged by a private lender just two weeks before Macquarie filed its lawsuit.

McGovern did not respond to questions from this masthead, including about the curious timing of the February 26, 2024, loan.

McGovern founded Dubber in 2011, and it launched on the ASX in 2015 via a back-door listing. The tech company, backed by Melbourne billionaire Alex Waislitz, provides low-cost cloud-based phone recording and data harvesting software to a notable telco client list, including Optus, Telstra and AT&T.

In July, Dubber sued McGovern and Madafferi over 39 payments of the Dubber cash they allegedly dished out to themselves and other figures, including gangland identities.

In August 2021, $30 million was transferred to Madafferi’s trust account to be invested in the term deposit – but Dubber has accused the men of never investing the money, instead forging documents to deceive the company’s board members.

It is alleged that on the same day the millions landed in Madafferi’s account, the men immediately started transferring the funds, including a $200,000 payment to John Khoury, underworld figure Mick Gatto’s long-time business partner; a $3 million transfer to a residential estate development in Geelong; and nearly $1 million dished out to companies associated with Mo Abou-Eid, a financial planner with ties to gangland identities.

Some of the other payments recorded by Madafferi were detailed as: “Supreme Court Litigation”, “Mortgage”, “ATO Compliance Enforcement Proceeding” and “Family Law General”.

The last of the 39 payments was made in April 2022 – a $50,000 transfer to McGovern.

Madafferi and McGovern have not yet filed a defence.

McGovern and Madafferi were barred from leaving the country after ASIC requested that Federal Court judge Mark Moshinsky issue travel bans against the men while the watchdog investigated.

An update on ASIC’s case is expected in September, when lawyers for the corporate regulator will appear at a court hearing.

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