Chef Scott Pickett to face court examination over collapsed super fund

Pickett, a former MasterChef guest judge, is expected to be questioned about his dealings with fund manager David Anderson, particularly a decision to waive repayment of $13 million in funding First Guardian provided to their joint hospitality business, Rogue Traders. The date of the examination has not been set, but liquidators from FTI Consulting expect it to take place by the end of the year.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has accused Anderson of mismanaging the fund by spending investor money on his pet projects, including the Rogue Traders partnership with Pickett, and of using tens of millions of dollars to pay allegedly illegal commissions, conduct ASIC has described as “industrial-scale misconduct”. Anderson is expected to vigorously defend the allegations. There is no suggestion that Pickett had any oversight of the fund, and he is not listed as a defendant in any legal matter.

Pickett told this masthead in July that he had also been affected by the collapse. “The collapse of First Guardian cost my business its major financial backer and forced the appointment of administrators,” he said. “I feel deeply for everyone affected, and I’m co-operating fully with the liquidators.”

Pickett and Anderson set up the Rogue Traders partnership in June 2020, and Anderson arranged for the business to receive $13 million of investor funds, according to recent court action launched by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. The money allowed Pickett to roll out new venues at a time when the rest of Melbourne’s hospitality industry was under immense financial pressure from pandemic restrictions, including Thai-inspired fine diner Longrain and its sister bar Longsong, and a Little Collins Street venue that would become Pickett’s Chancery Lane bistro. In early 2022, Smith Street Bistrot joined Pickett’s portfolio. His restaurant Matilda in South Yarra was also wrapped into the business, along with catering and other companies. Anderson was a director of Rogue Traders alongside Pickett and also a director of each venue, according to corporate filings, until resigning in early 2025 amid the corporate regulator’s investigation into First Guardian’s management. Rogue Traders entered administration in September 2025 owing $27 million. None of Pickett’s restaurants closed during the administration. He has since restructured, closing Matilda and exiting his venues within the Continental Hotel complex in Sorrento.

Last week, the fund’s liquidators told investors they had recouped only $8 million from selling investments listed on First Guardian’s books as worth $118.38 million. The sale of Anderson’s Hawthorn mansion, allegedly bought with investor funds for $9.04 million in late 2020, fetched a knockdown $7.04 million, but little of that will flow to investors because of secured creditors. The examinations of Pickett and others who received First Guardian cash from Anderson are expected to be a new avenue for liquidators seeking returns for investors.