From billionaire to bankrupt: Nathan Tinkler. Credit:Ben Rushton The big question now is: What is left for creditors claiming he owes them $250 million? Mr Tinkler has claimed, in a filing to the Australian Financial Security Authority (ASFA), that his only possessions are $2000 cash and a property in Rosglen, NSW he acquired for $665,000. His bankruptcy will leave a long line of creditors who will not see a cent from the millions they are owed, including billionaire Gerry Harvey, who is currently owed $9.5 million, according to the ASFA document. His biggest debtor is a trio of global financial firms, including Credit Suisse, which is owed a combined $US165 million. This amount is secured against various assets in NSW and Queensland that were not listed in the document. The Tax Office is owed $2.16 million.

Illustration: John Shakespeare. It was Mr Tinkler's big punt on thoroughbred racing that soaked up most of the fortune he made from coal during the resources boom. He squandered millions more buying up Newcastle's major sports teams such as the NRL's Newcastle Knights and the FFA's Newcastle Jets, which was the last part of his sporting empire to fall in an all too familiar fashion. His A League licence for the club was cancelled in May last year after the fallen mining tycoon placed the club into voluntary administration, listing debts of $2.7 million. The bankruptcy has derailed his great coal comeback, forcing Mr Tinkler to stand down from Australian Pacific Coal last month. He is now banned from being a company director in Australia. He was supposed to continue advising the company, but confirmed on Thursday that he would no longer be involved with the company in any way.

'I'm not a criminal, I am allowed to get out and earn a living for my family.' Nathan Tinkler "I do not have a role with Australian Pacific Coal," he said. "I'm not a criminal, I am allowed to get out and earn a living for my family." Mr Tinkler joked that a career as an anti-coal activist might be easier in modern day Australia than trying to run a business. "I might become an activist and have the full support of the government and the media and have no responsibility," he said.

Following the Federal Court bankruptcy decision last month, Mr Tinkler's lawyers had indicated they would seek leave to appeal. "I am in a position to pay," Mr Tinkler said at the time of the debt owed to GE Commercial. "I dispute the amount." In the judgment, Justice Gleeson said GE Commercial confirmed as recently as December the debt was yet to be paid. Mr Tinkler had been fighting since mid-last year to stave off the bankruptcy claim. It is nearly a decade since Mr Tinkler's adventure began. In November 2006, Mr Tinkler, then 30, with support from local business contacts including Richard Jennings and Matthew Higgins, famously sold or borrowed against everything he had - his house and his maintenance business - to scrape together a $1 million deposit on a neglected coal tenement at Middlemount in central Queensland, through his company, Custom Mining.

He had 30 weeks to get the rest of the $30 million deposit together. By April, Tinkler had pulled in investors including the Hong Kong-listed commodities trader Noble Group, which took 30 per cent of Middlemount. The transaction was done in June 2007 and, after feasibility studies including drilling to firm up the coal quality and reserves, Tinkler's Custom Mining was sold to Macarthur Coal for $65 million in cash and shares worth up to $210 million. By May, Tinkler sold his Macarthur shares to Arcelor Mittal for $442 million. Loading From less than $1 million to $442 million in 18 months - it was a stunning deal that propelled Mr Tinkler into the BRW Rich 200, where he debuted at the age of 32 with wealth of $426 million, and into the national spotlight as the brash "bogannaire" who spent up big-time on flash cars, big houses and, particularly, his ambitious horse racing and breeding venture, Patinack Farm.

with Peter Ker