The Waiting Palace

Those that have stayed close to developments in the LM case over the two years since It entered voluntary administration would now have been exposed to the despicable behaviour of Peter Drake. He lies and cheats. Endlessly. Prior to the collapse we saw him scramble to move money out of creditors reach. During the five years of MPF ponzi operation he maintained he only used licensed agents (salesmen posing as financial advisors) yet many were unlicensed. The marketing material that was regularly distributed to the agents upheld the lie that the MPF ponzi lived. The lie that returns to investors were a direct function of the expertise in location selection, project selection, and the skills and expertise of his close team in all the critical aspects of property development. Nothing could have been farther from the truth as this site has demonstrated.

More recently (principally because he was not able to pay back millions of dollars in loans from investors monies that he has taken) he has declared himself bankrupt. The bankruptcy statement included detail of a house in Fiji. Drake has put forward a value for the property of Au$126,000 (US$100,000).

Information is now coming to light that demonstrates the property is potentially worth ten times that figure.

On the left you can see an aerial view of Drake's 2 acre plot and property in Savusavu, Fiji.

The accommodation is a large double storey 3 bedroom mansion with separate 'games room' including an additional sleeping area; tennis court; swimming pool; large caretaker's home; large garage cum workshop; landscaped grounds.

Four lots in one direction is a small single storey 2 bedroom house, Vunibua, plus small timber caretakers cottage on a 1 acre plot that, in 2008, sold for US$550,000.

In the other direction the plot and property, Senitoa, adjacent to Drake's plot is a 2 bedroom single storey house that is currently for sale at US$575,000 and likely to fetch US$$560,000.

Drake appears to have understated the property value by an incredulous 80 - 90%. The indelible mark of a criminal in everybody's eyes but ASIC, responsible entities and bankruptcy trustees (Jason Bettles of Worrells, Robina) it would seem.

How can this be allowed to happen in Australia in the 21st century? Australia's law enforcement and financial consumer protection performance in this case alone are the disgrace of the developed world. Many countries across the world would have locked up this man long ago.

Information passed to LMIVC has also suggested that there are some other interesting questions that could be asked, and investigations carried out. For example an inquiry into the sudden substantial wealth acquired by a certain individual in Savusavu whose family is close to Drake. Many locals believed that this person had "won the lottery" ! This was later found out not to be case, but the real source of his wealth remains a local mystery.