Peter Landau’s swindle set for sequel as Lloyds insurers hauled into Anthony Eastman, Brett Mitchell claims

Jailed high-flyer Peter Landau’s swindle is set for a Supreme Court sequel as receivers try to recover $2.2 million-plus bilked from failed Citation Resources. Receivers have demanded insurers take legal responsibility for the alleged failings of Landau’s fellow Citation directors Anthony Eastman and Brett Mitchell to properly monitor the company’s bank accounts in 2015 and 2016. In the action targeting Lloyds underwriters, it is alleged that Mr Eastman and Mr Mitchell failed to ensure that money raised by Citation was deposited in one of its regular BankWest accounts. The two former directors also allegedly failed to identify the “whereabouts of the funds”. The new Supreme Court civil action comes 10 months after Landau copped a five-year jail sentence for stealing $2.24 million using a Westpac account that was set up in Citation’s name in early 2015. Landau’s dodgy dealings were publicly revealed in 2016 as the Australian Securities and Investments Commission swooped on his battling mining play Continental Coal and his advisory firm OKAP Ventures. Investigators and an auditor suspected that money raised from Citation shareholders had been misappropriated by Mr Landau after being deposited in a Westpac account. Federal prosecutors said last year that around 70 per cent of the money stolen from Citation was used to pay demanding creditors of Continental and about 20 per cent went into the miner. The rest was allegedly used to fund Landau’s family and business expenses. Unrelated to the criminal charges against Landau, Citation receivers launched a Supreme Court civil action against Mr Eastman and Mr Mitchell in 2021 over their alleged failings in 2015 and 2016. That civil action has been grinding through the court system and process servers, facing a variety of challenges by UK-based Mr Eastman. The receivers are now attempting to beef up that action by suing underwriting agents Dual Australia Pty Ltd, which acts for Lloyds underwriters behind a Citation directors’ insurance policy that ran from July 2015 to July 2016. It claims the civil action launched in 2021 is covered by the directors’ policy. The receivers allege that Mr Eastman and Mr Mitchell failed to “ensure that all funds raised by Citation were available, and were used, for its benefits”. The former directors also allegedly failed to ensure they maintained a thorough understanding of Citation’s business and to ensure it kept proper books and records. The receivers say Dual had denied liability for the alleged breaches by Mr Eastman and Mr Mitchell and had failed to provide cover in accordance with the directors’ policy.