Sensaslim director Peter O’Brien faces contempt of court action

SensaSlim Australia are scheduled to face court today over misleading and deceptive conduct charges brought by the competition regulator, which has also accused the collapsed diet spray company’s sole director, Peter O’Brien, of contempt of court.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission alleges that O’Brien “authored or authorised a communication sent to franchisees of SensaSlim Australia Pty Ltd which had a tendency to interfere with the administration of justice.”

A directions hearing for the matter has been set down in the Federal Court in Sydney for August 31. The ACCC is seeking a declaration, penalties and costs.

Slater & Gordon senior partner Van Moulis was contacted by franchisees months ago about the prospect of a multimillion-dollar class action after the ACCC won an interim freeze on SensaSlim’s assets. He says the listed law firm has shelved the idea after a report by administrator Jirsch Sutherland indicated there would be little money left over for franchisees after its work was completed. It’s believed there was a little less than $300,000 in the account.

SensaSlim collapsed after its bank accounts were frozen, and earlier this month it was resolved it should be wound up.

“The ACCC has informed me that their substantive proceedings also include a claim for compensation, and in due course I will likely provide to the ACCC a list of people,” Moulis says.

John Kukulovski of Jirsch Sutherland was contacted for comment this morning.

Dozens of franchisees paid about $60,000 each to sell the herbal product, which was promoted as being backed by medical research. The product is still able to be sold, but the claims about weight-loss and the medical backing are not permitted until the ACCC case is concluded.

SensaSlim had advertised its products as the “most effective slimming solution available in the world today.”

The Australian Taxation Office and a Peter O’Brien have been listed as among the creditors by the administrator.

The ACCC accused SensaSlim and several of its officers of failing to disclose the involvement of convicted conman Peter Foster in the business, as well as falsely representing that the SensaSlim spray was the subject of a worldwide clinical trial when in fact no such trial occurred.

It also accuses SensaSlim of falsely representing that there was a money buy back guarantee to franchisees, and falsely representing that an obesity expert had given unqualified support to the effectiveness of its spray and the purposed clinical trials.

Questions have also been raised about the links between O’Brien and Foster.