Ryan and Peter Meuleman also say the pair have their best interests at heart, and they are regularly in touch on strategy.
More than $235,000 has already been raised through a public GoFundMe, which Robertson said went into a trust to pay for legal action. Anything left over – or crucially, any court payouts won – is intended to go into that trust, which publicly bears Ryan’s name as the Ryan Meuleman Justice Fund.
But the family don’t have access to it. Instead, Robertson and Wenn control it through a company they created to act as its trustee: first Bike Boy Scandal Pty Ltd, and now the more discreetly named SRT Lighting. Only Wenn and Robertson’s names are on the paperwork.
“SRT Lighting stands for Strength, Resilience, Truth, and Lighting, you know, like shining a light. It’s cute, isn’t it?” Robertson said.
He and Wenn told The Age that the idea was for the pair to manage the fund on behalf of Ryan’s father Peter, who would ensure the money was spent on his son’s welfare and the rest of the family.
“If Ryan’s successful [in the lawsuits], there may well be substantial sums of money coming to him,” said Robertson. “Ryan is a very vulnerable young man still. Of course, if he really wanted to say ‘stuff that, I’m gonna take the cash and buy a high-speed motorcycle’, there’s really nothing we can do about it.”
Asked why a member of the Meuleman family wasn’t trustee instead, Robertson said: “You can have a person or a company as trustee. We’re directors now, but eventually probably Peter will come on. The money still has to go [the Meuleman family] as the beneficiaries of the trust. There’s nothing murky!”
Ryan, who is now 27, told The Age he would like access to any potential money won in court on his behalf, but added: “They’ve spoken to me about [the trust], but I don’t think that’s settled yet.”
Peter Meuleman speaking to the media in 2024.Credit: AAPIMAGE
Peter said Ryan was still traumatised from the crash and he trusted Wenn and Robertson, who were “across the details”. It was hoped that keeping Ryan’s name off the trust would protect him from huge court costs if he lost his legal fight, Peter said. But he added: “My name should be on there at least as a safety net.”
After The Age spoke with Peter, Wenn told this masthead: “It’s a non-issue but to make that clear we’re happy to put Peter and Ryan or anyone else in the family on the trust. And Peter’s now agreed to go on the trust to help with the optics.”
Earlier Wenn stressed that the money would only flow to the Meulemans and not to any future campaigns run by the Bike Boy crew, many of whom have been involved in other online groups railing against the Andrews government.
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“We gave that family a strategy they didn’t know they had,” said Wenn. “But all this, and [any potential] money, is for Ryan’s welfare and the family. No one else.”
The Victorian Liberals did not answer questions again on Saturday on the party’s involvement with the campaign, after The Age revealed former Liberal treasurer and cash-raising king Andrew Abercrombie, as well as MP Moira Deeming, were lending their help to the campaign.
On Saturday, Labor minister Natalie Hutchins said she was “astounded by what the Victorian Liberals will raise funds for” and expressed concern for the Meuleman family over the fundraising arrangement.
“Victims deserve justice, they deserve to be respected and not manipulated,” she told reporters. “And unfortunately, we’ve seen this happen in other cases.”
Opposition Leader Brad Battin has previously backed the Bike Boy camp, even appearing at press conferences alongside Robertson and Wenn. But Battin did not answer questions on his current involvement.
Peter said Abercrombie had been helping the campaign since its early days around 2020. ”I blew him off at first, I didn’t want to drag all it up again,” said Peter. “But [he and] especially Rohan chipped away and won my trust. My main focus is looking after my son.“
Robertson said Abercrombie and other business leaders backing a new fundraising push for Ryan’s legal fight had decided to use a separate fund to the trust.
“ They said to us, ‘Listen, it’s not that we don’t think you’re not trustworthy people. But if we’re raising the funds, we’ve got a responsibility’ … They just want to make sure that the fund’s protected and well spent.”
Abercrombie, whose ski lodge party in Aspen was famously linked to a major COVID outbreak in Melbourne at the start of the pandemic, did not comment on the fundraising split or clarify his role. But he told The Age his interest in the campaign was in “seeking justice for Ryan and holding Andrews accountable”.
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