The story of Keith Batt, Nant Distilling and its whisky barrel investment scheme has once again resurfaced as Batt, the Founder of Nant, faced court in Hobart this week, eight years after allegations surrounding the barrel scheme first surfaced.
Batt has been charged with 736 allegations of fraud, stealing and dishonestly acquiring a financial advantage relating to the whisky barrel investment scheme.
The criminal investigation into the scheme has listed 56 alleged victims covering more than $580,000 in alleged fraud.
Batt did not appear in court, he faced the Hobart Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday by phone and did not enter a plea.
The alleged fraud stemmed from the Nant Distilling Barrel Investment Scheme, which saw Nant offer investors the opportunity to buy two 225-litre barrels of Nant single malt whisky for $30,000, which would then be bought back by the distillery upon maturation, at 9.5 per cent interest, compounded annually.
With bank interest rates so low at the time, the investment proved a popular one, in particular for a lot of self-managed super funds.
The ABC said that court documents listed 56 alleged victims, comprising individuals, couples, families, companies and superannuation funds.
In October 2016 Australian Whisky Holdings (AWH) announced that it had entered into an agreement to buy the Nant Distillery business and the Nant Estate from the Nant Group for $3m in cash, plus the assumption of debts and liabilities, bringing the total amount to around $5.5m.
In March 2017, as part of its due diligence into the deal AWH said it conducted an audit of whisky stock and subsequently alleged this audit discovered “a number of serious anomalies and some minor ones”.
It is alleged that barrels were not filled, some were decanted and not refilled and others were filled with spirit well below the industry standard of 63 per cent ABV.
At the time Batt denied any wrongdoing, saying that AWH was “trying to spook everyone, me included”.
Batt will now appear in court again in May.