Developer Facing Seven Fraud Charges over Gold Coast Project

A Northern NSW man is facing several fraud charges for allegedly misleading investors over a Gold Coast property development.

Michael David Steele, from Murwillumbah, was charged in the Southport Magistrates Court with seven counts of fraud. Each charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in jailhe issues identified in this report are unlikely to recede.

The court was told ASIC says Steele misled 14 investors to withdraw funds from employer superannuation funds and savings accounts. The money was to be invested in a property development at Biggera Waters in Queensland.

Investors were allegedly advised between May, 2016 and February, 2017 to invest funds in EA Invest Pty Ltd, the firm that would buy and develop the property.

Steele instead withdrew more than $1.3 million of the funds from the firm’s accounts and used it for purposes other than property development, ASIC alleges.

It alleges that at the time Steele was a shadow director and controlling interest in EA Invest Pty Ltd. 

The matter was adjourned to July 17 for mention. 

ASIC had previously disqualified Steele from operating companies until September 2025 over his involvement in two collapsed companies, Eastco Developments and EA Invest, which were put into administration in April 2018.