Receivers to oversee sale of assets of former doomsday cult Agape Ministries

Former doomsday cult Agape Ministries has had its assets placed in the hands of receivers after years of legal battle.

ABC News, Australia/September 4, 2014

The Adelaide District Court has ordered receivers be appointed to oversee the sale of three properties.

Former cult leader Rocco Leo was ordered to repay $1 million in unpaid tax plus legal costs last year.

He was also ordered to repay $420,000 to a former parishioner who claimed she was brainwashed into donating money.

The court was today told auctions of two properties linked to the cult in Victoria and one in South Australia were unsuccessful and Leo had refused to lower the reserve prices.

It heard an offer had been made for the property at Kuitpo in the Adelaide Hills, but was well below reserve, while there had been little interest in the properties at Sunshine and Keilor Downs outside Melbourne.

Lawyers for the former parishioner joined the tax office in seeking the appointment of receivers to overcome the matter's long delays.

Leo moved to Fiji in 2010 after police raids of the Agape Ministries' properties seized guns, high-powered ammunition and explosives equipment in and near Adelaide.

The largest seizure was at Mount Magnificent, south of Adelaide, where detonators, fuses and 20,000 rounds of ammunition were found in a shipping container.

The District Court ordered a freeze on the assets belonging to Agape Ministries that year when two former members took out civil claims wanting their money back.

The pair claimed they gave money to the religious group on the basis of false promises.

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