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He also agreed the builder’s invoices listed the work as being for Shield Master Fund’s investments, which Chiodo said was a mistake.
The Shield Master Fund was managed by Chiodo’s company Keystone Asset Management, which is now in liquidation.
The liquidator to Keystone and the corporate watchdog have previously alleged that Chiodo used more than $5 million of the fund’s money to buy a third adjoining apartment in the building in 2024.
Chiodo was also forced to defend the purchase of his Lamborghini Urus and Porsche, denying they were acquired with investor funds.
The corporate watchdog is separately investigating Chiodo over the collapse of Shield, alleging the fund was not well managed and had improperly used large sums of investor money on Chiodo’s private property developments and on events featuring sports stars including NBA star Josh Giddey.
Earlier this year, this masthead revealed Chiodo had been long-time business partners with David Anderson, investing alongside each other, buying property together and devising a marketing scheme to drive investors into their funds.
Both funds have since collapsed, risking the life savings of 12,000 people. Macquarie Group has agreed to pay $321 million to compensate the victims of Shield after its planners directed investors into the now failed fund.
Chiodo has long insisted he has been unfairly targeted by the regulator and says the investors would have lost no money if the business was left in his management.
Chiodo was polite and well-spoken during the hearing, but cut a solitary figure at court, arriving with only his barrister and lawyer in tow, and was seen pacing the court’s corridors alone during the short recesses in proceedings.
Counsel for the liquidators also used Monday’s hearing to dig into the management of the Shield Master Fund, which appeared to have kept limited documentation about its finances, investments and agreements with other groups, including builders.
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Chiodo told the court repeatedly that while he was sure a document outlining the flow of money out of the fund and into his property developments existed, he couldn’t be sure if he actually knew where it was or if he had seen it.
This included any paperwork detailing how any profits made from his property developments would be shared with the fund that had bankrolled construction.
“I don’t recall whether I’ve seen it, whether I have spoken to it,” Chiodo said. “I am under the understanding there is an agreement [to share the profits from the developments] ... There could be an agreement somewhere.”
He said he was also “unsure” if he remembered signing an agreement.
In another exchange, Chiodo was pressed on why he had only provided some of his personal bank records to the court ahead of his examination, saying his failure to hand them all up was “just a mistake”.
“I can give it to you; I don’t have a problem with that,” he told the court.
There was also confusion over the record-keeping practices of Keystone and its affiliated companies at the hearing, as Chiodo struggled to explain why a key document signed and dated “May 2022” by him and another person, appeared to have actually been drafted in June 2024, when ASIC was already investigating the group.
Asked if he recalled updating or redrafting the document, Chiodo said: “There was a lot of work going on, a lot of documents … I don’t remember.”
He said it was possible that other staff at his group had altered the document without his knowledge.
This masthead has previously revealed that many of Chiodo’s high-end property developments where investor money had been spent did not have planning agreements in place, the land had not been acquired or were seriously delayed. More than $100 million of the fund’s money was also paid in commissions to planners and promotors of the fund.
Chiodo’s former business partner David Anderson, who oversaw another collapsed superannuation fund, First Guardian Master Fund, will be examined at a later date.
ASIC is also investigating Anderson over the collapse of that fund.
