3:21PM Jess McGuire | We have such fond memories of artist Ken Done, you know? A man not afraid of a bright colour, he was the brains behind some of our favourite curtain designs at our childhood holiday home in Shoal Bay. So we are saddened to hear that things are
not going all that well for Ken.
The artist behind some of Australia’s most colourful images, Ken Done, may have to return to painting the harbour and cuddly koalas after losing three-quarters of his personal fortune due to what he claims was bad financial advice.
Done, 67, who painted the widely recognised and colourful depictions of Australian life, is suing the financial advice arm of the Commonwealth Bank for $53 million after his nest egg was whittled away on risky loans and stakes in untested and little-known companies that ultimately failed.
In a case that will have its first preliminary court hearing today, he claims that had the advisers invested as he said over the four years from 2001 to 2005 he and his wife, Judith Done, would now have a trust fund worth $61.5 million. Instead he has been left with just $8 million.
Still. $8 million from this kind of stuff -
- seems like a pretty good deal, in our uncultured eyes.
More »
