Melbourne businessman Terry Paule, a co-founder of one of Australia’s largest accountancy firms, Findex, has been declared bankrupt after failing to satisfy a court-ordered settlement exceeding $24 million owed to former business partners. Paule, 65, has unsuccessfully appealed a ruling that found him liable for “unconscionable conduct” and breaches of fiduciary duty related to dealings over a bottled water company.

The dispute stems from Paule’s involvement with Aqua Botanical, a venture founded on a waste-to-water technology developed by inventor Ambrosios “Bruce” Kambouris in 2010. The company claimed it could transform waste from processed fruit, vegetables, and sugarcane into bottled drinking water. Paule and his brother Spiro, who remains chairman of Findex, had promised to invest in the firm in 2019. However, Terry Paule was found to have orchestrated a series of complex transactions diverting the company’s intellectual property via a UK-registered entity, thereby excluding Kambouris and former Aqua Botanical CEO David Driver.

The court ruling against Paule was upheld by the High Court in November 2025. Despite Paule’s claims at the time that a negotiated settlement was imminent, the parties remained far from resolution. Kambouris and Driver have since pursued legal action to recover unpaid debts, culminating in Paule’s bankruptcy declaration in June 2026. A creditors’ report by firm PKF found Paule’s liquid assets amounted to just $919, though he owns a collection of classic cars valued close to $1 million, including a 1965 Jaguar Roadster convertible and a 1977 Ferrari 308 GTB.

Further complicating Paule’s financial position is a legal dispute over a Toorak mansion valued at around $28 million. For several months, Paule claimed ownership of the property but later asserted that it belonged to his wife, Anna Paule. Justice Scott Goodman, presiding over recent appeals, admonished Paule for giving inconsistent testimony and finding that he had knowingly misled both the Supreme Court of New South Wales and the court itself. According to property title searches cited in the creditors’ report, Paule is the sole registered owner, though his wife has initiated proceedings in the Supreme Court of Victoria to argue the home is held in trust and should be excluded from the bankruptcy estate. Court documents indicate the couple has been separated but living under the same roof for more than a decade.

In court submissions, Paule expressed concern that bankruptcy would damage his professional reputation and hinder his involvement in charitable work, particularly initiatives providing access to safe drinking water in vulnerable communities. Justice Goodman rejected these arguments, emphasizing Paule’s protracted efforts to mislead the courts about his asset holdings.

With the bankruptcy order in place and the $24.4 million judgment confirmed, Paule faces significant financial and legal challenges, with little prospect of settling the matter in the near term.