ASIC acts to appoint provisional liquidator to Liam Young's Benchmark Private Wealth companies
ASIC has obtained orders from the Supreme Court of Queensland appointing Mr Michael McCann of Grant Thornton as a provisional liquidator to five companies within the Benchmark Private Wealth Group. These are:
1. Benchmark Private Wealth Pty Ltd;
2. Benchmark Wealth Property Services Pty Ltd;
3. Benchmark Private Wealth Holdings Pty Ltd;
4. OSK Developments Pty Ltd; and
5. Young Corporation (NSW) Pty Ltd.
ASIC applied for and obtained the orders on an ex parte basis as a part of an ongoing investigation into the Benchmark Private Wealth Group.
ASIC sought the orders due to solvency concerns about the companies and about their management by the director, Liam Young.
ASIC is also concerned about transactions entered into with a number of other companies which were a part of the Members Alliance Group and the director of those other companies, Richard Marlborough.
Marlborough headed the Members Alliance Group.
Liam Young was once a lawyer at the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. 
The orders require the provisional liquidator to provide a detailed report to the Court within 45 days that sets out, among other things, the financial position of each of the companies so the Court can consider whether it ought to make orders to wind up the companies.
The orders were made on 3 November 2017. No future court date has been set.
The Members Alliance Group was a group of companies operating on the Gold Coast which went into external administration in July 2016.
On 13 July 2017, Jason Bettles and Raj Khatri of Worrells themselves sought and obtained orders from the Supreme Court to be replaced as liquidators of a number of Members Alliance Group companies by Michael McCann of Grant Thornton.
Like the Members Alliance group, Benchmark spruiked house and land packages.
The Members Alliance Group operated a range of businesses, primarily throughout Queensland, including but not limited to, financial services, project marketing, construction and management and letting rights
Commencing Friday, 22 July 2016 the directors of the MAG placed certain entities within it into voluntary administration and liquidation with Jason Bettles and Raj Khatri (the “Former Liquidators”).
They were replaced by McCann.
McCann recently advised the earliest records obtained for MAG are as at July 2015 "at which time it appears that the company was insolvent as it was incurring recurring losses, was balance sheet insolvent and did not appear to have any ability to discharge its debts."
The liquidator of 18 Members Alliance companies has sent a report to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission raising concerns about how the group ran up a $29 million debt to the Australian Taxation Office.
The ATO and ASIC are part of the Phoenix Taskforce investigating Members Alliance.