Craig Kirrin Gore (born 7 January 1967) is an Australian entrepreneur and property developer. He is best known for founding the Wright Patton Shakespeare Financial Services Group (WPS), which he grew to over 400 employees before selling his interest to Lord Michael Ashcroft for A$160 million. He was ranked sixth on the Business Review Weekly Young Rich List in 2006 with an estimated wealth of A$160 million, and 199th on the BRW Rich 200 in 2007 with an estimated wealth of A$183 million. He co-founded Team Australia, a motorsport team that competed in Champ Car, V8 Supercars, the Atlantic Championship, and NASCAR. In 2020, following a judge-alone trial at Brisbane District Court, he was found guilty of six counts of fraud and sentenced to five years imprisonment.
Craig Kirrin Gore was born on 7 January 1967 in Fairfield, New South Wales. He is the son of Michael Graham Gore (1941âÂÂ1994), known as Mike Gore, a property developer who created Sanctuary Cove â Australia's first gated community and master-planned resort â on Queensland's Gold Coast in the 1980s. Mike Gore launched Sanctuary Cove in January 1988 with a $16 million extravaganza that included performances by Frank Sinatra, Whitney Houston, and Peter Allen.
Craig Gore spent his early childhood in the western suburbs of Sydney, attending Westfields Sports High School. After moving to Queensland to live with his father, he attended The Southport School on the Gold Coast. He left school after completing Year 10.
After leaving school, Gore worked in his father's business importing Cheoy Lee boats from Hong Kong during the 1980s. He later co-founded an advertising agency called Take One Creative Alternative with his business partner Ross Clarkson. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Gore managed advertising accounts on the Central Coast of New South Wales and was contracted to help establish the Arnold's Ribs and Pizza franchise nationally. This resulted in Gore owning and operating several franchise stores in Woy Woy, Gorokan, and Toukley.
In late 1996, Gore partnered with Sydney accountant John Atkinson to found a home loan company called Right Home Loans. The business later grew and was rebranded as Wright Patton Shakespeare Financial Services Group (WPS). WPS became one of Australia's largest independent financial services companies, with more than 400 employees and licence holders operating offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth.
Gore served as one of the founders and a principal owner of WPS. The company's growth was recognised in the Business Review Weekly Young Rich List in 2006, on which Gore was ranked sixth with an estimated personal wealth of A$160 million. The following year he appeared 199th on the BRW Rich 200 list with an estimated wealth of A$183 million.
Gore sold his interest in WPS to British politician and author Lord Michael Ashcroft for A$160 million. The transaction was facilitated through Gore's then chairman, Shane Stone, the former Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, who had served as chairman of WPS for two years prior to the sale.
Following the sale, Gore merged entities with an Ashcroft company to create International Marina Development and Management Pty Ltd, with a focus on acquiring marina developments. This company acquired Hope Harbour Marina on the Gold Coast and the Townsville Ocean Terminal and Breakwater Marina in Townsville.
Gore was a co-founder of the Atkinson Gore Group, a property development company that developed predominantly residential properties on the east coast of Australia in New South Wales, Victoria, and Queensland.
Gore played an instrumental role in establishing the masterplan for the Hope Island Canal development on the Gold Coast â a canal estate adjacent to his late father's Sanctuary Cove development that now houses more than 15,000 residents. He also founded Big State Earth Moving, a company that completed the earthworks for the Hope Island Canal, and developed high-rise apartment buildings on the Gold Coast, in Sydney, and in the Melbourne CBD.
Gore planned to develop a 31-hectare section of Hope Island into Australia's first adults-only community, branded Aurora, with projected end value of approximately A$700 million and plans for around 1,200 homes. In October 2003, Gore instead sold the site to Australand Ltd for A$90 million.
Gore founded Aussie Vineyards, which at its peak was described as Queensland's largest exporter of wine. The company operated the Henty Estate vineyard in Queensland's Granite Belt and exported wine to the United States market.
Aussie Vineyards' 2004 Limestone Coast Chardonnay was entered in the Los Angeles International Wine and Spirits Competition in 2007, where it was awarded Best of Show in the Wine Packaging and Design category, competing against wines from 16 countries.
Gore was a co-founder and co-owner of Team Australia, a motorsport team established in 2005 when Gore and John Fish partnered with Walker Racing, the Champ Car team owned by Derrick Walker, forming the company Gore Fish Walker (GFW) LLC. Gore's financial company Wright Patton Shakespeare provided primary sponsorship alongside the Aussie Vineyards brand.
The team competed across multiple series simultaneously:
In 2006, Team Australia entered the Champ Car Atlantic Championship with French driver Simon Pagenaud, who won the drivers' championship in his rookie season, accumulating 258 points over 12 races. Pagenaud received a US$2 million scholarship towards a Champ Car seat for the following season.
On 8 April 2007, Will Power won the inaugural 2007 Vegas Grand Prix on the streets of Las Vegas, driving for Team Australia. Power qualified on pole position and won by 16 seconds, becoming the first Australian driver to win in the Champ Car series.
Gore also provided sponsorship support for Marcos Ambrose in his transition from Australian V8 Supercars â where Ambrose had won back-to-back championships in 2003 and 2004 â to NASCAR racing in the United States. Will Power subsequently became a multiple IndyCar Series champion (2014, 2022) and won the Indianapolis 500 in 2018. Pagenaud won the 2017 Indianapolis 500.
In October 2007, Gore suffered a helicopter accident causing inner ear damage. Medical advice required him to avoid loud environments, preventing his attendance at race events. WPS Racing ceased operations in February 2008 following unsuccessful attempts to sell the team.
In 2004, Gore invested in Australian driver David Besnard, who drove in the Indy 300 Classic on the Gold Coast.
Gore was declared bankrupt in 1992 following the failure of his advertising agency and the collapse of his father's business interests. The bankruptcy was subsequently annulled following a meeting of creditors.
In 2008, Secured Capital & Finance â a firm jointly owned by Gore and John Atkinson â froze client redemptions. The appointed liquidator, CRS Warner Kugel, found that Wright Patton Shakespeare â then held by Lord Ashcroft's entities â had previously recommended that its clients invest in Secured Capital & Finance. The liquidator described the arrangement as "something akin to a Ponzi scheme", a characterisation denied by Gore. The liquidator's investigations suggested that between 2001 and 2004, Secured Capital & Finance had used investors' money to make interest payments to other investors and forward money to companies within the Atkinson Gore Group. None of the liquidator's claims were tested in court proceedings, nor was a public examination conducted.
Wright Patton Shakespeare, by then under Lord Ashcroft's ownership, offered investors 10 cents in the dollar plus a takeover of their debts, before later paying 60 cents in the dollar over four years.
On 18 November 2010, Gore's creditors accepted a settlement offering A$3 million over three years plus 30 per cent of profits from a Gore-controlled trust.
Creditors terminated the payment arrangement in February 2012. Gore declared himself bankrupt on 18 April 2012, with the Public Trustee ITSA consenting to act as official trustee. Creditors subsequently voted to appoint Gregory Moloney of Ferrier Hodgson as replacement trustee in September 2012. Gore was released from bankruptcy in April 2015 after the trustee concluded that no grounds existed to extend the bankruptcy.
Gore was arrested on 14 April 2017 and charged with fraud arising from his role at Arion Financial Pty Ltd. He was alleged to have defrauded self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) investors of approximately A$800,000 between 2013 and 2014 by presenting investors with misleading information about debenture investments, including promises of guaranteed returns and short-term repayment.
On 27 October 2020, following a five-day judge-alone trial at the Brisbane District Court, Gore was found guilty of six counts of fraud involving amounts totalling A$345,000. The trial proceeded on 12 counts; Gore was acquitted on five counts, and a sixth was dismissed on jurisdictional grounds.
On 26 November 2020, Gore was sentenced to five years imprisonment with a non-parole period of two years. Judge Michael Byrne noted that Gore had exploited the "trusting nature and vulnerability" of his victims, targeting their retirement savings.
Gore's appeal against conviction was dismissed by the Queensland Court of Appeal in 2021.
On 4 October 2022, Gore pleaded guilty in Brisbane Magistrates Court to a charge of managing a corporation while disqualified, relating to his role in managing MOGS Pty Ltd, Sleipner Financial Pty Ltd, and Arion Financial Pty Ltd between 2010 and 2014 during a period when he was disqualified from corporate management due to his bankruptcy status. He was fined A$2,000. As a consequence of the 2020 fraud conviction, Gore also faces automatic disqualification from managing corporations for five years from the date of his release from prison.
At the time of his 2020 trial, Gore's wife and children were residing in Sweden. His lawyers applied to vary his bail conditions prior to trial to permit him to travel to Sweden to visit his family; the application was denied by Judge Paul Smith, who cited the risk of non-return given the prospect of a custodial sentence. Gore told the court he had not seen his family since returning to Australia in early 2019.
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