‘Illegal phoenixing’: convictions made after nearly $800k funnelled between labour hire companies

A former director has been charged with three offences of dishonesty and one offence of managing a corporation when disqualified.

Two companies, Ochre Training and Ochre Workforce Solutions, were allegedly used by the sole director to funnel nearly $800,000 from the insolvent Ochre Training to the new Ochre Workforce Solutions over 18 days in May 2018.

As sole director of all three entities, Joanne Pellew was convicted by the jury at the District Court of Western Australia for three counts of dishonesty and one count of managing corporations while disqualified from managing corporations on 20 February 2019, when she was made bankrupt, and disqualified by ASIC from managing corporations for five years from 28 October 2019.

The allegations made by the Crown include three counts of “dishonestly using her position as a director of Ochre Training with the intention of directly or indirectly gaining an advantage for Ochre Workforce”.

Each of these offences carries a maximum penalty of five years' imprisonment.

The court found that Ochre Training became insolvent in April 2018, after which she instructed her accountant to transfer clients, employees, and liquid assets totalling $739,655 to the newly created company Ochre Workforce Solutions.

The Crown alleged that Pellew became aware of a statutory demand for debt repayment by the ATO against Ochre Training in early 2018 and subsequently developed a strategy to create a new company (Ochre Workforce Solutions), which she allegedly used to continue Ochre Training’s work.

In an April 2018 email to her accountant, a Mr White, who implemented this plan, Pellew was found to have said: “A decision needs to be made sooner rather than later so I can get through the pain of the process now. The longer I delay it, the worse the situation will get.”

In the email, she detailed her plan to establish the new entity into which to transfer existing contracts.

“I will need the ABN sooner rather than later so I can arrange the insurances, bank accounts and transfer the RTO license over,” she wrote in instructions to White.

The court found that Ochre Workforce Solutions was established on 11 April 2018, with Pellew as its sole director, and that she remained the sole director of Ochre Training.

Arising out of the authorised transfer total of $739,655 between the companies, the Crown claimed that these three were part of “illegal phoenixing”, allegedly intended to avoid the appointment of a liquidator to Ochre Training.

In its allegations, the Crown said that, as Pellew was the directing mind and will of the new company, Ochre Workforce Solutions, this enabled her to maintain “business as usual” for her clients and employees at Ochre Training.

“She could maintain the appearance of goodwill or good reputation that the business name 'Ochre' had in the industry for the work that the business did,” the Crown alleged.

“[Pellew] did this intentionally and for one purpose - to be able to use her power as Director of [Ochre Training] while they were still available to her) to place [Ochre Workforce] in a position of advantage,” it added.

“[Pellew] was aware of financial difficulties with the old entity, and particularly a debt with the ATO from September 2018 when [Ochre Workforce] was unable to pay its statutory liabilities.”

The court said Ochre Training is now in liquidation.

In its decision, the court ruled that the movement of $739,655 between Ochre Training and Ochre Workforce Solutions was “'dishonest' according to the standards of ordinary, decent people”.

Despite Pellew’s grounds of appeal that Ochre Workforce Solutions worked for Ochre Training and was owed money by the latter company, and that the judge was shown to be in error, the Supreme Court of Western Australia Court of Appeal on 11 March 2026 determined that no error was shown.

The matter is listed for sentencing on 4 September 2026.

The case citation: Pellew v The King [2026] WASCA 33