No room for TLC in reseller's family feud

Former director and shareholder of TLC IT Group Jan Chapman is in a dispute with his brother and managing director of the company, Alan Chapman, over the management of the reseller before and after it went into liquidation this week.

The pair, who had worked together since Jan Chapman joined his brother's company in 2003, accuse each other of improper behaviour. Another former TLC IT Group director and creditor, Craig Boyle, who recently launched an IT services business with Jan Chapman, is involved in the dispute.

Jan Chapman and Boyle each held a 20 percent share in the TLC IT Group, but both resigned last October They claimed Alan Chapman refused to share the company's financial details with them.

"We discovered towards the end of last year that the business was in real financial trouble, again, struggling to make even payroll," Jan Chapman told CRN.

They offered a plan to "rescue the business with a cash injection" that would "level out of the shareholders".

The proposal meant that Alan Chapman's 60 percent claim on the company would have been diluted and spread evenly between the three parties. As part of the proposal the pair asked Alan Chapman to step down as managing director.

"[Alan] just refused to speak to us, and refused to give us any information," said Jan Chapman. "So I resigned. I can't be a director of a company that's in severe financial difficulty and not know what is going on."

Countering his brother's claim, Alan Chapman said the pair had access to all the company's financials, at all times.

"They're company directors; if I did that and they still worked there [then] they'd be negligent as company directors," he said.

In 2006, Boyle bought into the company and claimed he was offered a 20 percent share of the business for an amount Jan Chapman claimed was in excess of $100,000. Jan Chapman was also offered a 20 percent share for $100,000 he loaned the business in 2008.

Jan Chapman said that he "still has that loan outstanding". He told CRN that Boyle had a loan outstanding, but would not reveal the amount.

He also claimed that his brother had refused to pay him leave entitlements.

"I went to the Fair Work Ombudsman to get my leave entitlement paid. I got most of it, but not all of it," he said.

Alan Chapman was unavailable to comment on whether any loans were outstanding at the time time this story was published. 

Read on for the $100 valuation and the $20 payout....