The public examination later this year, bankrolled by the liquidator and the former directors of Harvest Homes, will put the spotlight firmly on a bitter wrangle over the demise of the Hunter company that went from turning over $16 million to collapsing in just over two years.

Five people will be summoned to give evidence at the two-day hearing, including the two Hunter-based directors and former shareholder Oliver Roths.

Some know him as Oliver Roths, others as Oliver Banovec, the Sydney eastern suburbs rich kid who was sentenced in 2010 to seven years' jail for fraudulently using an investor's money to support his business.

Formerly of Sydney's plush Bellevue Hill, the Austrian-born Banovec was found guilty of five counts of fraud, two counts of perjury and one count of destroying documents relevant to an Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) investigation into four companies he controlled, which ended up in liquidation.

Court documents reveal Banovec was running a mortgage broking business, Capital Trust, and took money from an investor, who said he lent $1.3 million to Banovec or his company at interest rates of up to 50 per cent expecting the funds would be on-lent to borrowers and secured with mortgages.

But the five clients identified in paperwork supplied by Banovec never applied for any loans and the money was used to run Banovec's business.

Banovec, who changed his name to Roths after his conviction, was given a non-parole period of four years and nine months and was disqualified from managing corporations for five years from the date of his release from prison.

A Newcastle Herald investigation can reveal the 43-year-old became a shareholder in GLFB Pty Ltd, trading as Harvest Homes, in July 2017 as part of an ambitious plan to finance and build at least 38 homes at Warnervale, on the Central Coast.

It's understood the Maserati-driving property investor, who used to boast he wanted to retire at 30, was first introduced to Harvest Homes due to his links with private financiers.

Two years later, GLFB and subsidiary Harvest Homes (Properties), were placed in the hands of a liquidator with combined debts of more than $5 million. It was a sharp turnaround for the Mayfield-based builder started by Newcastle directors Stephen Taylor and Dean Turner in 2010.

According to liquidator Thomas Dawson, of DCL Advisory, GLFB turned over $16 million in the 2016-17 financial year.

In a statutory report into the collapse, Mr Dawson said over the next financial year the company's revenue dropped 45 per cent to $9 million. Over the same time, it went from making $440,000 in profit to losing $380,000.

Roths told the Newcastle Herald this week that there had been "a lot of wild accusations" thrown around following Harvest Homes' demise, "but the facts speak for themselves".

He said a Sydney-based company he is now a director of, AXL Financial, lost $3.5 million in the Harvest Homes crash.

"It's a very simple matter," he said. "We have lost more than all of them put together. We still to this day don't know what has happened and why it's gone into liquidation.

"They didn't tell us about the liquidation... To say it caught us by surprise is an understatement. The bottom line is we are $3.5 million down the hole."

No proof of debt has been supplied to the liquidator to date detailing the $3.5 million loss.

Roths, who declined to comment on his past describing it as "personal", said AXL loaned Harvest Homes money and was "facing so much adversity" due to the collapse of the builder.

He said he would be surprised "to find anyone who can point the finger at us" as having done anything wrong.

"It has caused us a lot of discomfort," he said. "We have given them resources and lots of money for years."

Investigations by Mr Dawson in his role as liquidator identified a July 2017 share agreement that involved Mr Turner and Mr Taylor agreeing to sell 51 per cent of GLFB for $1,020,000 to a Sydney-based building company that Roths had an interest in.

The agreement involved the Sydney-based building firm "taking all reasonable steps to facilitate" building at least 38 homes at Warnervale, secure finance from AXL - that Roths was a shareholder in and working for at the time - and for Mr Turner and Mr Taylor to work as consultants.

According to Mr Dawson's report, following the July agreement, "the books and records of GLFB reveal that "control of the day-to-day decisions" of the company and its business "appeared" to transfer to AXL "under the direction" of Roths.

"It is unclear how and why AXL and Roths came to be in a position of controlling the company's business," Mr Dawson said.

According to ASIC records, GLFB issued 1.3 million shares to AXL Financial for $1 each in October 2018.

"Contrary to the ASIC lodgement, the records of the company suggest that no monies were ever receipted, nor any other consideration received, by the company in relation to the transaction," Mr Dawson said.

Harvest Homes founder and director Stephen Taylor told the Newcastle Herald this week he was unable to comment on the matter as it was before the courts.

Mr Roths said a company he was involved in took a majority stake in Harvest Homes, but a dispute arose in March last year and Mr Taylor and Mr Turner took control back of the business and placed it in liquidation.

According to Mr Dawson's investigations, the dispute began in January last year.

"The company was experiencing considerable cash flow shortages at the time and email correspondence suggests Turner/Taylor issued a direction to pay some unsecured creditors of the company against the instruction of AXL/Roths, as a purported secured creditor of the company," he said.

"On 25 January 2019, AXL/Roths demanded Turner/Taylor pay back monies paid out to unsecured trade creditors to the company immediately or it intended to appoint receivers and managers over the assets of the company."

Total debts for GLFB are estimated to be more than $3.7 million, with about $3.4 million owed to 159 unsecured creditors, including $141,000 owed to former staff and the Australian Taxation Office for superannuation.

The majority of unsecured creditors are subcontractors and suppliers, many of them Hunter-based businesses, that will not see a cent.

There were 10 "mum-and-dad homes" left incomplete. Due to the liquidation the owners would be entitled to make claims under the NSW government's home building compensation (HBC) cover, formerly known as home warranty insurance.

Harvest Homes (Properties) owes more than $2 million to creditors, including $1.2 million to two secured creditors and $880,000 to 10 unsecured creditors.

Mr Taylor and Mr Turner, who supplied the liquidator with "all" Harvest Homes books and records, were both declared bankrupt late last year.

Creditor Vince Di Prinzio said his concreting business lost $80,000 in the collapse. He also lost $59,000 last year when another Hunter-based builder, Sehez, went into liquidation leaving a trail of debt across the region.

"It wasn't a good year last year, that's for sure. Even though we didn't get paid, our suppliers still had to be paid," he said.

"That involves extensions on overdrafts and taking out short-term loans so suppliers don't stop supplying us so we can continue working and get out of the rut. There were a lot of people across the Hunter who suffered."

Mr Di Prinzio, whose family company celebrates 60 years this year, said there needed to be more protection for subcontractors and homeowners from builders going into liquidation.

"I do feel a little sorry for the two guys involved in Harvest though [Mr Taylor and Mr Turner], it wasn't the same type of situation as Sehez I don't think," he said.

Tradies told the Herald in February that they kept agreeing to work for Sehez with the promise of impending payment, but most of the money never came.

According to Mr Dawson, his investigations into the failure of Harvest Homes have been met with "a large amount of resistance from multiple parties".

"This resistance has come from parties that would normally be quite willing to assist a liquidator with their enquiries. For example, creditors that stand to recover some monies from the liquidation if they provide evidence of their claim," he said.

This prompted the public examination, a civil matter for information gathering that can lead to further pursuits for assets or litigation from the liquidator.

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