Deloitte CEO Adam Powick caught up in potential investment scam

Former Deloitte partner Amberjit Endow has been accused of robbing tens of millions from investors, including from Deloitte CEO Adam Powick. Both men hit back in recent reporting from the Australian Financial Review.

Accused fraudster and former Deloitte and Sayers senior leader Amberjit Endow has defended himself in a since verified letter to the AFR against suggestions he could have stolen up to $60 million from gullible, high-level consulting executives, despite apparently still being difficult to find.

As noted by the AFR since the publication’s first report, Endow’s case has only got stranger since, with Deloitte chief executive Adam Powick admitting to being one of those caught up in the scheme.

As per the original AFR report, Endow is accused of conning investors to part with their cash in a shady pitch based on Indian-government-issued bonds, with promises of an almost 40 percent return over just six months for those who forked over upwards of a quarter of a million dollars.

Powick has now admitted to being among the duped, but denies his name was ever used as an endorsement. Several investors claimed it was Endow’s Deloitte connections which convinced them to invest.

According to the AFR, Powick sent a firm-wide email among Deloitte staff of his embarrassing pick-pocketing last week, stating that he took “full accountability for my personal investment decisions and the outcomes associated with these decisions”, adding that he had never “encouraged anybody else to be part of this investment”. Appointed in 2021 post-Covid, Deloitte’s own ASX market research suggests that Powick is already earning well above $300,000 per year.

Meanwhile, this is what Endow had to say to the AFR; that he was free from any wrongdoing and had not “personally benefited financially” from the scheme, and that he had “received multiple significant and explicit threats to himself and his family over the investment fund”.

Endow insisted that he never used the name of other Deloitte partners, but was now in hiding due to “the significant and explicit threats to the well-being and life of my family (including two minors) and myself.”

A cabal of murderous Deloitte seniors seems unlikely, but Endow has claimed that he has withdrawn from public life due to the threat he perceives, including as to “digital and communication assets (that have been attacked and compromised), those threats beginning “late in the year 2022 from individuals, groups of individuals and their associations and continue.” The original AFR report noted that corporate-fraud firm Duxton Hill had been hired to track down any asset movements.

“At no point in the life of the referred investment fund have I unduly, personally benefited financially, extorted/coerced, or forced unwilling participation and never have I abused the name, title or stature of individuals/groups participating,” Endow told the Australian Financial Review. “It is very unfortunate that reputable organisations like Deloitte and others from my professional history is being unfairly connected to a completely unrelated affair,” Endow stated.

The AFR is now reporting that as many as a dozen senior Deloitte executives could have been caught up in the scheme. Powick said in conclusion: “My interactions regarding this investment have always been directly with Amberjit and at no time have I ever encouraged anybody else to be part of this. It appears that Amberjit leveraged his personal networks inside the firm to attract investors and unfortunately a number of Deloitte partners have been personally impacted.”