RJH was ordered to pay Northern Crest $751,941.52, plus interest at an annual rate of 5 percent from the date of the liquidator's June 2011 appointment. The judge reserved her decision on costs.
Northern Crest had been part of the Blue Chip group and licensed property investment services. It relocated to Australia, where it was listed on the ASX, after making its last payment to RJH, However, liquidators were appointed in 2011 when a former Blue Chip employee's claim on the business was upheld, with Associate Judge Tony Christiansen deeming the firm was insolvent and that there were "significant reasons to expedite liquidation".
The Blue Chip group of companies failed in 2008 owing $84m to more than 2,000 investors and became a pin-up for regulatory failures of the time when the Securities Commission said property investment schemes fell outside the law requiring an offer document.
The Supreme Court later rejected that view in ruling the investment scheme marketing between 2005 and 2007 required a prospectus, however, the Financial Markets Authority didn't go further than reviewing the case, instead deciding it wasn't in the public interest because Blue Chip-funded developers reached a settlement with investors.