But a Fairfax Media investigation has raised questions about what these companies actually offer. Kevin Rudd and Weigong Zhang of Sunshine Insurance Group, the major shareholder in the Maxfield company group. A leading Sydney architect says Maxfield misused his identity. A home used to advertise Luxeland's local building business is, in fact, in Buenos Aires. Scant detail is provided about the professional backgrounds of key staff and projects supposedly worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Banks' fears about repayment and possible fraud among loans to foreigners have increased recently, prompting lending crackdowns and investigations. At the same time, Chinese investment in Australian property has ramped up, doubling between the 2014 and 2015 financial years. Between them, Luxeland and Maxfield say they have almost a billion dollars worth of projects built or on the way. But behind the slick websites, the businesses remain mysterious.

Maxfield's major shareholder is Weigong Zhang, the chairman of one of China's largest insurance companies, Sunshine Insurance Group. The profile on Maxfield's website - since deleted - that architect Peter St Clair called "a bit of a case of identity theft". Credit:Maxfield Sunshine, like other Chinese insurers, has gone on a foreign property shopping spree, buying the Sydney Sheraton on the Park hotel in 2014 for $463 million, then a $46 million Hunter Valley golf course. Former prime minister Kevin Rudd assumed the unpaid honorary position of "Sunshine University" president in November. But it is difficult to make contact with Mr Zhang's Maxfield Group. The phone number is disconnected and, when Fairfax Media visited its new premises in Sydney's Citigroup tower, no one was there. Maxfield chief executive Hongwang "Gary" Yang has no prior jobs listed. Credit:Maxfield

"It's a bit of a case of identity theft," said Sydney architect Peter St Clair, who was portrayed as Maxfield's "project designer". Mr St Clair said he was neither an employee nor a consultant to them and had only spoken with staff a couple of times. But his head shot appeared alongside "manipulated" biography text on the Maxfield website. Fund manager Neil Shelswell used to work for investment bank UBS but Maxfield chief executive Hongwang "Gary" Yang and fund manager Sam Zhiming Liu have no prior jobs listed. Maxfield claims to have built $315 million in developments since its founding in 2009. The company does have approval for the Sync development, a block of luxury apartments in Neutral Bay now mostly sold, but Fairfax Media could find no other approved projects. Nor could it find records of Maxfield Group companies from before 2014. Steve Albin, the chief executive of the Urban Developers Institute of Australia, NSW, said he had not heard of Maxfield or Luxeland.

The Luxeland website – blocked to public users since Fairfax Media began its investigation – listed corporate partners including the Commonwealth Bank, ANZ, Westpac, NAB, Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers, KPMG and King & Wood Mallesons. None said they knew of a partnership with Luxeland and several said they would investigate the use of their logo. In promoting its Miramax Projects building business, Luxeland displayed a picture of a formidable white home with a geometric design. It happened to be Carrara House, in Buenos Aires, designed by Andres Remy Architectos and built by Hernán Pardillos. The only project identified on the Luxeland property website was Greenway, a western Sydney subdivision of 330 lots of which a "related entity" has contracted to buy the balance. One of Luxeland's two Chinese-born owners, Shuxin "Tony" Zong, denied any misleading conduct, saying the Luxeland website had been in Mandarin and incomplete.

Mr Zong said Miramax was independent from Luxeland. However, he founded Miramax in 2013 and half owns it; cached versions of the Luxeland website show it promoting Miramax among other group companies. As for projects "Luxeland and or its related entities have contracted to acquire", Mr Zong said the details were commercial in confidence. He and Luxeland co-owner Dandan "Diana" Ren have already made their transitions into the Sydney property market. Ms Ren bought a Vaucluse home for $4.2 million three years ago. Mr Zong, who also runs Luxeland's commercial interiors business, lives in a Hunters Hill mansion, bought for $6.05 million the year after. The home was bought with significant investor visa-holder Xiaoyan Chen. Mr Zong and Ms Ren are both shareholders in Maxfield, which offers the Chinese rich a chance to become permanent Australian residents via the significant investor visa program.

Applications for the program have dropped off sharply since new rules required greater portions of the $5 million investments go toward riskier ventures. But the Maxfield Property Fund aims to have $70 million by February "to grow the leading premier retirement village portfolio". Legally, an applicant can invest no more than $500,000 in residential property. The Immigration Department would not say if the Maxfield fund complied with the rules as there was no list of approved funds. Maxfield's head, Mr Yang, could not be contacted. Fund managers Mr Shelswell and Mr Liu said they were "probably not too keen" to talk. Do you know more? Email patrick.begley@fairfaxmedia.com.au