The co-founders of luxury accessories brand The Daily Edited have gone to court over hundreds of thousands of dollars in personal expenses charged to the business, according to BusinessNews.
Tania Liu, one half of the business’ founding pair, is accusing Alyce Tran (pictured) of using The Daily’s Edited’s capital to build her own side business as well as pay for her personal expenses, such as $27,000 in costs for her 34th birthday party and $30,000 to fix a leaking roof at her home.
Liu spent four years in Hong Kong and China setting up the business’ manufacturing channels, while Tran remained in Australia and focused on marketing the brand.
And, because the pair have an equal stake in the business and are its only two directors, Liu needed court permission to take action on behalf of the business against Tran – permission she received late last year when a court-appointed expert found that of 454 expenses investigated, 338 were “not proper”.
Liu also accused Tran of buying up luxury items using TDE funds under the guise of marketing, and then potentially taking them for herself.
“None of these expensive luxury goods are at the company’s premises and there is no record of the company having received the proceeds of their sale,” Liu wrote in her affidavit.
“I believe it is wrong and contrary to the director’s duty to the company to simply throw away, or give away, or keep for oneself, expensive luxury items like those the company has spent somewhere in the vicinity of $200,000 to purchase.”
A number of expenses seem to be related to Tran’s side business In The Roundhouse, with Liu alleging Tran used TDE funds to pay for marketing and event expenses, as well as using TDE staff, to help boost her own business, before attempting to conceal them.
“The litigation between TDE and myself with Alyce has been challenging, but my focus remains on the success of TDE, and working with Alyce and our team to make sure that TDE continues to grow in Australia and internationally,” Liu said in a statement to BusinessNews.
The case is set to return to court in May.
