The directors of collapsed funeral insurer Youpla have begun to be held to account for how they insured the funds that thousands of First Nations families paid into.
The Federal Court has found that former Youpla Group chief executive Bryn Jones and director Ronald Pattenden breached their duties as directors of Youpla Group companies, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) said on October 30. Pattenden has been ordered to pay $250,000 in penalties and is disqualified from managing corporations for 15 years, as proposed jointly by ASIC and Pattenden. Jones was found to have breached his duties after a contested liability hearing in February, and his penalties will be decided at a separate hearing.
At the centre of ASIC’s case is how Youpla’s funds were insured. ASIC alleged that between September 2017 and November 2018, the directors and officers kept insurance arrangements with Crown Insurance Services, a Vanuatu-based company beneficially owned and controlled by Pattenden and fellow director Jonathan Law. ASIC alleged those arrangements were not in the interests of the funds and stood to benefit Pattenden and Law. It also alleged they left the funds exposed to unaffordable premium increases, which came in September 2017, while First Nations members kept paying premiums without knowing the risk to the funds’ viability.
The fund entities, formerly the Aboriginal Community Benefit Fund (ACBF), went into liquidation in March 2022. ASIC began the proceedings in August 2023 against five former directors and officers. Decisions on the other three, Law, Michael Wilson and Geoffrey Clayton, are reserved.
“ASIC has taken decisive action to ensure those responsible for serious governance failures and director misconduct that harmed First Nations people are held to account,” ASIC chair Sarah Court said. “These breaches went to the heart of trust and responsibility in the First Nations community.”
The findings follow an earlier case against the company itself. In 2025, the Federal Court ordered ACBF to pay $3.5 million for misrepresenting that it was Aboriginal owned or managed.
The government set up the Youpla Support Program in 2024 in response to the collapse. Applications closed on June 30, and payments will continue to be processed until December 1. The liquidation is being managed by SV Partners.
For brokers who place D&O cover or advise boards, the case puts a familiar conflict on the court record: the people choosing an entity’s insurer also owned it. Findings against three more directors are still to come.
