Filmmaker ‘deliberately concealed’ bankruptcy to secure loans, court told

A filmmaker behind a Netflix dinosaur film has faced court over fraud charges tied to loans allegedly obtained while concealing bankruptcy motions from lenders.

Queensland filmmaker Luke Sparke pleaded not guilty before the Brisbane District Court on Monday to 12 counts of obtaining credit by fraud while in bankruptcy proceedings and five counts of incurring debt or liability by fraud within 12 months of becoming bankrupt.

The multi-hyphen movie man is known writer, director and producer behind the films Occupation, Occupation: Rainfall, Bring Him To Me, Scurry, and most recently Primitive War – a 2025 dinosaur action adventure movie set in the Vietnam War.

Commonwealth crown prosecutor Chris Tam, in his opening remarks, told the court Sparke secured 17 loans from four lenders over a near three year period between February 2017 and December 2019 for three of his production companies.

The lenders were left out of pocket; coinciding with Sparke declaring bankruptcy in December of 2017.

Mr Tam claimed Sparke guaranteed personally on all the loans if the investor’s money was not recouped by the film productions.

He argued when Sparke made the guarantee he did not properly disclose “particular matters” to the lenders regarding his bankruptcy proceedings, and knew it was an “unjustifiable” risk for him to take.

“A person does not become bankrupt overnight … there are steps that occur,” Mr Tam said.

“It is largely agreed between the Crown and the defence that certain of these steps occurred.

“The nondisclosure was a deliberate concealment to create a false impression of the value of the guarantee presented.”

The court was told one loan made in September 2017 was used to pay off previous judgement debt Sparke owed a creditor, who brought him to court over the matter.

Mr Tam said the lender was aware of Sparke’s bankruptcy notice and his intention to use the money to pay his debt.

Sparke’s defence barrister Mark McCarthy agreed personal guarantees were made on 15 of the 17 loans but denied one was given for two loans in 2018 and 2019.

“The Crown must prove that the guarantee was incurred because of the (alleged) nondisclosure,” Mr McCarthy told the jury.