IT has been a spectacular fall from grace.
In 2015, Robert Pullinger estimated his personal net worth was "in excess of $45 million".
Now the former owner of the Truegain site near Maitland, who made his fortune running a notorious waste oil refinery on the land for decades, is bankrupt and has been found guilty this week of three criminal charges for failing to comply with EPA clean-up notices, which resulted in toxic firefighting chemicals polluting a creek that runs to the Hunter River.
The 75-year-old former police officer will be sentenced at a later date.
Exactly how it went so spectacularly bad for Pullinger, who previously professed Truegain was "scapegoated" by authorities, was detailed in the Land and Environment Court on Wednesday by Judge Sarah Pritchard.
Pullinger told the court his stake in Truegain was worth $35 million before the company was caught by Hunter Water discharging the forever chemical PFAS into the sewer in 2016 and forced into liquidation.
In addition, his personal net worth was estimated at $10 million in property owned jointly with his wife.
At the time, Pullinger held a press conference flanked by several of his workers asking authorities to allow the refinery to keep operating, pleading with them to see the "human side" of his business.
But the Newcastle Herald's long-running Dirty Deeds investigation revealed that Truegain - also known as Australian Waste Oil Refineries - secretly dumped millions of litres of toxic waste into nearby creeks and onto the ground over a span of decades.
Dozens of former employees told of the company's appalling environmental practices.
According to Judge Pritchard, Pullinger initially planned to sell the plant or set up another business at the Kyle St, Rutherford, site treating PFAS contaminated water.
But the cost of trying to contain pollution on the site was too much, he claimed.
Truegain had a history of flooding in heavy rain, which resulted in tanks overflowing and parts of the plant being underwater.
Surrounding land and several creeks were polluted with PFAS-contaminated runoff and have been deemed off limits for drinking and swimming.
PFAS has been found at levels more than 20 times the recommended drinking water guideline in Stony Creek, a waterway that flows to the Hunter River.
In the end, the EPA was forced to spend more than $12 million containing pollution at the abandoned site and then acquired the site under compulsory acquisition laws so it could be remediated at a cost of $20 million.
Mr Pullinger told the court he was unable to comply with three clean-up notices issued by the EPA from 2017 to 2020 because he ran out of money.
He said he spent $2.5 million trying to contain pollution and comply with the notices, including $245,000 from superannuation.
"I had to sell or had repossessed all assets I once owned," Pullinger wrote to the EPA in June 2020.
"I mortgaged everything in order to comply with the [EPA] notices for Rutherford and unfortunately was screwed at the last moment by the finance people."
But Judge Pritchard said it was clear that Pullinger did not spend all the money available to him trying to clean up the site.
"There were significant other amounts spent by the defendant in the period 2016 to 2020 on matters not relating to remediating the premises, including exploring options to sell the property, legal fees, other clean-up actions not the subject of the clean-up notice, and the payment to the defendant and his wife of about $250,000 for living expenses," she said.
"I find that the defendant did not prioritise the expenditure of available funds."
Judge Pritchard said Pullinger did not provide details about the circumstances surrounding the sale of a Sydney property in Hunters Hill by his wife in September 2019 for $4.375 million, or the $245,000 he drew on in superannuation.
She said Pullinger's evidence in relation to his financial circumstances "included assertions" in relation to his financial incapacity and this was "uncorroborated by financial statements, profit and loss statements, tax returns, accounting records or similar documentary evidence".
As part of the case, Pullinger also argued it was not "technically possible" to adhere to the clean-up notices, but Judge Pritchard dismissed the claim on the grounds that the works ran over time and Pullinger never applied for an extension of time.
The court heard that in August 2016, the EPA inspected the site and identified oily water in the main bunds.
The regulator then wrote to Pullinger and Paul Lucas, both directors of Truegain, to remind them of the company's environmental obligations.
Three days later, Mr Lucas replied stating that he was retiring as director and that all decisions and financial control lay with the managing director, Pullinger.
Truegain and Pullinger have a long history with the EPA.
The EPA has previously issued 18 fines to Truegain and successfully prosecuted the company twice in the Land and Environment Court.
The Newcastle Herald reported in 2022 that the NSW government predicted it would be forced to spend $20 million to clean up the legacy of contamination at the Truegain site.
Then NSW Environment Minister Matt Kean, who visited the Rutherford property in 2021 following a community campaign led by Maitland MP Jenny Aitchison and Rutherford resident Ramona Cocco, introduced changes to laws in order to give the EPA greater powers to pursue polluters - including allowing the agency to go after current and former company directors, managers and related companies for alleged offences.
The Truegain case has been a key catalyst for the law changes.
