How about this for a neuron lob .. lol .. digression way downunder .. from Morans there to one who was in the news years ago here ..
Westpac .. Westpac worked closely with Doug Moran .. insert from link .. ............................................................... Moran and Westpac
From early times Doug Moran had close associations with the banks who supported him. Westpac joined him in his grand plan to build the failed Taj Mahal hospitals. The market crash in the 1980s did not help. Moran got the better of these deals in a protracted court battle and Westpac was left with most of the losses. Moran saw nursing homes as a stepping stone into a hospital empire.
Mar 1993 Profitable Westpac relationship sours
The failed venture on the Gold Coast has put an end to the expansionist plans of Moran and family - for the time being. --------------------------- His main company is the Moran Health Care Group Pty Ltd which reported a loss of $2.3 million in the 1991 financial year. The group comprises more than 25 subsidiaries in the nursing home, private hospital, travel, property and real estate fields. ----------------------------- Step by careful step, Doug Moran, 68, former real estate salesman, had built his business over 40 years - from a Mums and Dads nursing home outfit into a medical conglomerate now encompassing six retirement villages, 22 nursing homes and 10 private hospitals. He planned to go further, developing medical Taj Mahals - townships of villas, hotels, spas and hospitals - in three States. ----------------------------- All along, his Moran group had grown with the help of Westpac's subsidiary, Australian Guarantee Corporation. AGC was his financier for decades and the partnership seemed set to continue forever - until the property crashes of the 1990s. Now Westpac is trying to dispose of all AGC's ill-fated joint property ventures, and the Moran-AGC team marriage has ended up in the casualty ward.
DOUG MOVES ON Australian Financial Review March 5, 1993
Oct 1994 Nursing homes the backbone of the empire
Moran sees his nursing homes, with 2000 beds, as a cash cow financing expansion in private hospitals, currently with 600 beds. The market value of a bed licence is $60,000-130,000. His optimally sized and profitable 100-bed nursing homes achieve occupancies of 99% (that is, they have a continual waiting list). Recommendations in the recent Gregory report on nursing-home funding would have the effect of improving profits for Moran and other efficient operators by several million dollars a year.
More bad health care news .. Another Australian Moran gone .. from a mine of 2004 ..
Underworld figure shot dead
March 31: Well-known crime figure Lewis Moran is shot dead at a club at Brunswick in Melbourne's north. The killing of Lewis Moran, father of slain underworld figures Jason and Mark Moran, brings the number of underworld killings since 1998 to 23. The shooting comes just one day after the funeral of underworld figure Andrew "Benji" Veniamin who was killed at a Carlton restaurant the week before. http://www.abc.net.au/news/yearinreview/2004/default.htm
the link in there didn't work so .. ................................................................. Des Moran shot dead in Melbourne street FROM THE AGE 15/06/2009
DESMOND `Tuppence' Moran, a member of the notorious Melbourne underworld family, has been shot dead - the fourth member of the family to suffer a violent death.
Mr Moran, 60, the brother of slain gangland figure Lewis Moran and uncle of Jason and Mark, was shot outside a cafe on the busy Union Road shopping strip in Ascot Vale about midday.
Turi Condon goes inside some of Australia's great mansions to reveal the people, wealth and history concealed behind the security gates.
real estate review
HUGH Jackman did a twirl or seemed tempted to, says Greta Moran as she walks across the sprung ballroom floor of Swifts, her family's 56-room gothic revival mansion overlooking Sydney Harbour.
Perhaps Jackman was also tempted to make an offer on the 1.5ha of prime Darling Point land and the 1880s pile of sandstone that sits on it.
"Who knows," says Moran cryptically of her house, which has undergone 10 years and $12 million worth of restoration.
Movie stars, beer barons and the church are among those who either built or bought Australia's castles, many of which have fallen into decay and have been revived by the new wave of stock-market wealth.
"The Tooths (the brewing family that built Swifts) wanted a bigger ballroom than the governor, bigger than Government House," Moran says.
But by the time the Morans bought Swifts in 1997 for $12 million, the two storeys of sandstone and grandeur had been stripped bare to pay for the former owner's debts.
Good news from Texas .. Texas DNA exonerees find prosperity after prison .. AP
AP – Shown Tuesday, August 25, 2009 is Thomas McGowan, a DNA exoneree released last year after nearly 23 years …
By JEFF CARLTON, Associated Press Writer Jeff Carlton, Associated Press Writer – Fri Sep 4
DALLAS – Thomas McGowan's journey from prison to prosperity is about to culminate in $1.8 million, and he knows just how to spend it: on a house with three bedrooms, stainless steel kitchen appliances and a washer and dryer.
"I'll let my girlfriend pick out the rest," said McGowan, who was exonerated last year based on DNA evidence after spending nearly 23 years in prison for rape and robbery.
He and other exonerees in Texas, which leads the nation in freeing the wrongly convicted, soon will become instant millionaires under a new state law that took effect this week.
Exonerees will get $80,000 for each year they spent behind bars. The compensation also includes lifetime annuity payments that for most of the wrongly convicted are worth between $40,000 and $50,000 a year — making it by far the nation's most generous package.
"I'm nervous and excited," said McGowan, 50. "It's something I never had, this amount of money. I didn't have any money — period."
His payday for his imprisonment — a time he described as "a nightmare," "hell" and "slavery" — should come by mid-November after the state's 45-day processing period.
Exonerees also receive an array of social services, including job training, tuition credits and access to medical and dental treatment. Though 27 other states have some form of compensation law for the wrongly convicted, none comes close to offering the social services and money Texas provides.
The annuity payments are especially popular among exonerees, who acknowledge their lack of experience in managing personal finances. A social worker who meets with the exonerees is setting them up with financial advisers and has led discussions alerting them to swindlers.
The annuities are "a way to guarantee these guys ... payments for life as long as they follow the law," said Kevin Glasheen, a Lubbock attorney representing a dozen exonerees.
Two who served about 26 years in prison for rape will receive lump sums of about $2 million apiece. Another, Steven Phillips, who spent about 24 years in prison for sexual assault and burglary, will get about $1.9 million.
The biggest compensation package will likely go to James Woodard, who spent more than 27 years in prison for a 1980 murder that DNA testing later showed he did not commit. He eventually could receive nearly $2.2 million but first needs a writ from the state's Court of Criminal Appeals or a pardon from the governor.
McGowan and the others are among 38 DNA exonerees in Texas, according to the Innocence Project, a New York legal center that specializes in overturning wrongful convictions. Dallas County alone has 21 cases in which a judge overturned guilty verdicts based on DNA evidence, though prosecutors plan to retry one of those.
Charles Chatman, who was wrongly convicted of rape, said the money will allow him some peace of mind after more than 26 years in prison.
"It will bring me some independence," he said. "Other people have had a lot of control over my life."
Chatman and other exonerees already have begun rebuilding their lives. Several plan to start businesses, saying they don't mind working but want to be their own bosses. Others, such as McGowan, don't intend to work and hope to make their money last a lifetime.
Some exonerees have gotten married and another is about to. Phillips is taking college courses. Chatman became a first-time father at 49.
"That's something I never thought I'd be able to do," he said. "No amount of money can replace the time we've lost."
The drumbeat of DNA exonerations caused lawmakers this year to increase the compensation for the wrongly convicted, which had been $50,000 for each year of prison. Glasheen, the attorney, advised his clients to drop their federal civil rights lawsuits and then led the lobbying efforts for the bill.
Besides the lump sum and the monthly annuity payments, the bill includes 120 hours of paid tuition at a public college. It also gives exonerees an additional $25,000 for each year they spent on parole or as registered sex offenders.
No other state has such a provision, according to the Innocence Project.
Exonerees who collected lump sum payments under the old compensation law are ineligible for the new lump sums but will receive the annuities. Whether the money will be subject to taxes remains unsettled, Glasheen said.
The monthly payments are expected to be a lifeline for exonerees such as Wiley Fountain, 53, who received nearly $390,000 in compensation — minus federal taxes — but squandered it by, as he said, "living large." He ended up homeless, spending his nights in a tattered sleeping bag behind a liquor store.
But after getting help from fellow exonerees and social workers, Fountain now lives in an apartment and soon will have a steady income.
Fountain's story is a cautionary tale for the other exonerees, who meet monthly and lately have been discussing the baggage that comes with the money.
Chatman said he's been approached by "family, friends and strangers, too."
"It takes two or three seconds before they ask me how much money, or when do I get the money," he said. "Everyone has the perfect business venture for you."
Though appropriately wary, the exonerees say they are excited about having money in the bank.
"You're locked up so long and then you get out with nothing," McGowan said. "With this, you might be able to live a normal life, knowing you don't have to worry about being out on the streets."
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