History of interactions between APRA and Mr Gray
14 On 25 August 2022, APRA received an email referral from the Head of Compliance at Deutsche Bank Australia and New Zealand in relation to an enquiry as to the "authenticity" of CDB. Soon thereafter, the matter was referred to APRA's then investigations team, under the management of Mr Sheehan. Mr Sheehan caused searches of APRA's systems to be conducted by his team, which revealed a long history of interactions between APRA and Mr Gray, CDB and Creditnet. Without being exhaustive, those interactions can be summarised as follows.
15 In September 2004, APRA first became aware of Creditnet when the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) made enquiries with APRA about Creditnet passing off bills of exchange to the Australian Tax Office for a commercial settlement. On 14 October 2004, APRA sent a cease and desist letter to the respondent regarding a breach of s 66 of the Banking Act.
16 On or about 22 October 2004, APRA received a response from Mr Gray on behalf of Creditnet which stated, among other things:
Creditnet … is registered as a Sovereign Trust domiciled in Las Vegas, Nevada and established by authorities of the US constitution and the British Common Law. It is not subject to the statutory regulations imposed by statutory companies, trusts, partnerships or entities and has no offering of financial services in Australia.
17 On 28 October 2004, APRA sent two further cease and desist letters to Mr Gray regarding breaches of ss 66 and 67 of the Banking Act, addressed both to Creditnet's Queensland address and to its Law Vegas address.
18 On 9 November 2004, a member of the APRA enforcement team telephoned Creditnet and spoke with Mr Gray. The same day, APRA received a letter by fax from Mr Gray on behalf of Creditnet in response to APRA's letters of 28 October 2004 stating, among other things, that "Creditnet … operates from a Sovereign Jurisdiction, which is NOT under the control or jurisdictional authority of APRA."
19 Following the exchange of several more cease and desist letters and responses from Mr Gray in November 2004, the correspondence between the parties appears to have entered into a period of abeyance until November 2008, when APRA received a letter from the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier in Luxembourg requesting information about Creditnet. On 20 November 2008, APRA informed the Commission de Surveillance that no organisation by the name of Creditnet was, or had been, authorised as a bank by APRA.
20 On 3 August 2009, APRA sent three further cease and desist letters to Creditnet at each of its mailing addresses at that time (one in Queensland, one in Switzerland and one in Hong Kong), regarding breaches by Creditnet of s 66 of the Banking Act. On 31 August 2009, the Mr Gray on behalf of Creditnet responded to APRA's 3 August 2009 letters stating that Creditnet "will respectfully remain as Status Quo."
21 On 10 June 2011, Mr Gray on behalf of Creditnet sent a letter to APRA stating that:
Creditnet is lawfully established as a Sovereign Status Trust Organisation; which is domiciled in Australia and operates as a bank in Australia under the Federal Legislation of 1909… We do NOT operate under the statutory banking act of 1959 which is monopolised under the watchdog of a privately controlled company called APRA.
22 On 19 July 2011, APRA received an email from the RBA in relation to an email the RBA had received from Ms Liliana Botsorovski, Head of Foreign Relations, JSCB Moldindconbank SA in Moldova asking whether Creditnet had been properly authorised by the RBA. APRA replied to Ms Botsorovski the same day stating that no organisation by the name of Creditnet was, or had been, authorised as a bank by APRA.
23 Between 10 August 2011 and 25 April 2023, APRA received various communications from members of the public regarding CDB and Creditnet. In short, these communications involved members of the public requesting APRA to confirm whether CDB and Creditnet were licensed and authorised by APRA. A number of these communications also included examples of CDB offering to issue international bills of exchange to entities overseas.
24 Between February and May 2012, APRA and Mr Gray exchanged further cease and desist letters and responses in relation to purported breaches by CDB of s 66 of the Banking Act.
25 In a letter dated 7 May 2012, Mr Gray maintained that CDB was "a Sovereign Status Organisation established under the British Common Law and is not under the jurisdiction of APRA."
26 APRA records from 2012 state that the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) took over primary responsibility for investigating CDB at that time. APRA continued to provide the ATO with updates on actions it took in relation to CDB, including engaging with the domain hosts of the CDB and Creditnet websites requesting their removal, and the matter was moved to a monitoring status.
27 Between 13 April 2022 and 18 January 2023, APRA engaged with various peer domestic regulators and referred the conduct of CDB, Creditnet and Mr Gray to law enforcement agencies.
28 As outlined above at [14], on 25 August 2022, APRA received a referral from Deutsche Bank Australia and New Zealand in relation to an enquiry as to CDB's "authenticity", prompting Mr Sheehan to recommence investigations into Mr Gray and to undertake the searches referred to above at [12]-[13].
29 On 21 November 2022, APRA sent another cease and desist letter to CDB regarding breaches of s 66 of the Banking Act. On 6 December 2022, Mr Gray on behalf of CDB responded stating:
As a Sovereign Status Organisation, established under the laws of the realm of Sovereignty, we do NOT operate under the jurisdiction of, nor do we owe our existence to, nor are we dependent upon, and nor do we accept powers, benefits or privileges from, any statues of:
APRA - a "(non-registered) private company - holder of Australian Company Number (ACN) 021628175.
…
Any actions to challenge the legitimacy of Commercial Development Bank as a Sovereign Status Entity should be made before the International Court of Justice in Den Haag (peace Palace, The Hague, Netherlands).
30 On 22 December 2022, APRA sent a further cease and desist letter to CDB. On 9 January 2023, Mr Gray on behalf of CDB responded to APRA stating that CDB "will respectfully remain as Status Quo."
31 On 25 April 2023, APRA received a letter from Brinkmann & Partner in Frankfurt, Germany, requesting information on whether CDB is a registered financial institution with a banking licence in Australia. On 5 May 2023, APRA responded to the Brinkmann & Partner letter stating that "CDB is not on the ADI Register and does not have an authority to carry on banking business in Australia."
32 On 3 July 2023, APRA sent a further cease and desist letter to Creditnet regarding breaches of s 66 of the Banking Act. On 7 August 2023, Creditnet responded to APRA stating:
Although we are not under the jurisdiction of APRA nor legally required to comply to your requests; out of pure courtesy please see our attached response to your letter that declares again our position more definitively for your understanding and our remaining as the Status Quo.
33 On 5 September 2023, APRA sent letters to CDB and Creditnet reiterating its demand for each entity to cease and desist from using the word 'bank' in Australia in relation to financial business and attaching the judgment of Lee J in Australian Prudential Regulation Authority v Garrett [2023] FCA 956, a case in which APRA successfully applied to permanently restrain a non-ADI respondent from conducting banking business in Australia. On 13 September 2023, CDB and Creditnet each responded to APRA stating that they "are NOT operating under the Banking Act of 1959, NOR are our operations under the jurisdiction of APRA or ASIC."
34 As noted above at [2], APRA instituted these proceedings by way of an originating application filed on 29 September 2023, seeking orders permanently restraining Mr Gray from carrying on any banking business in Australia and from using the words 'bank', 'banker' or 'banking' in relation to any purported bank or business.