STAN GRANT, PRESENTER: But first, angry investors are asking how a self-styled IT entrepreneur lost millions of dollars of their money without ever been held to account.

7.30 has uncovered a trail of disgruntled investors and partners from at least five five companies run by Jonathan William Parker since 2008.

While never charged, Parker's activities have been the subject of complaints to police in two jurisdictions and he's also been the subject of two inquiry by the corporate regulator ASIC - one of which is still ongoing.

But as Peter McCutcheon reports, Jonathan Parker is still in business, raising questions about the efficacy of police and regulators.

PETER MCCUTCHEON, REPORTER: There is big money to be made in connecting people to the internet.

A Queensland entrepreneur claimed he had discovered a way of cashing in.

YASMIN PARKER, JONATHAN PARKER'S FORMER WIFE: He said the idea initially came to him one night when he was lying in bed and he just thought that he would like to create free internet.

PETER MCCUTCHEON: Jonathan William Parker raised nearly $3 million in private share offerings in 2011/12.

But investors were deceived and the money vanished.

Was anything he told you true?

SID JACKSON, FREENET INVESTOR: Not now, no, no.

MARIANNE AGUIS, FREENET INVESTOR: I believed him. He was so damn believable, it's not funny.

PETER MCCUTCHEON: One of Parker's earlier business controversies was a plan to establish an IT company in Townsville in 2010.

One group of investors paid him a total of $140,000 for a 35 per cent share in a datacentre to be built at this site. Only to discover Parker hadn't registered the share ownership with the corporate regulator.

So they called in the lawyers who alleged.

EXTRACT FROM A LETTER OF DEMAND FROM DUNDAS LAYERS: The datacentre did not and does not exist.

PETER MCCUTCHEON: And that.

EXTRACT FROM A LETTER OF DEMAND FROM DUNDAS LAYERS: (Parker) diverted the Induced Investment Funds into a personal banking account for personal debts.

PETER MCCUTCHEON: Now the investors, based here in Brisbane, didn't go to police, because Parker paid the money back.

Parker told 7.30 he was in over his head and he apologised for all those involved.

But while negotiating this refund, Parker came up with a plan for a much more ambitious enterprise. He called Freenet.

MARIANNE AGUIS: It is going to be the sensation of the the year 2000 and up.

So again, we believed him because he was so what he seemed, genuine about it.

PETER MCCUTCHEON: Freenet was based on the concept of subsidising free internet to consumers at particular sites through non-invasive advertising.

So this is the original prospectus, is it Sid?

SID JACKSON: That was the first prospectus that he sent out to us.

PETER MCCUTCHEON: For Jonathan Parker's then father-in-law, Sid Jackson, it looked all very impressive, claiming a joint venture with communication giants Google and Motorola.

SID JACKSON: Any questions you would put to him, okay, you asked him a question, he would come back with the answer straightaway without hesitation.

PETER MCCUTCHEON: Sid Jackson's partner and her family in Malta also bought into the company.

All up they parted with their life savings of more than $300,000.

SID JACKSON: They got how many shares we purchased, the number holdings.

PETER MCCUTCHEON: The claims of a joint venture with Google and Motorola were false and again their shares weren't officially registered at the time.

MARIANNE AGUIS: I feel really betrayed now because I felt like I let down my guard because of him but he was so convincing.

PETER MCCUTCHEON: By early 2012, Parker had raised a further $2 million and he moved his family from Brisbane to this exclusive residence next to Sydney Harbour.

YASMIN PARKER: We had a three storey house, five bedrooms and four bathrooms. We had quite a number of cars at that point. We only took the two BMWs in Sydney and anything that Jonathan wanted, he made available, made sure it was there for him.

PETER MCCUTCHEON: Other shareholders became suspicion about what was happening with their money.

One of them, Ben White, became a joint director of the company on November 30, 2011.

Sixteen months later he lodged a complaint with New South Wales Police, detailing more than a million dollars in unaccounted for transactions - including two payments totalling $15,000 to a cheer squad dancing school run by Parker's mother and more than $700,000 transferred directly into Parker's personal bank account, over a nine month period to June 2012.

EXTRACT FROM A 2013 COMPLAINT TO NSW POLICE: Freenet has suffered a direct loss of money resulting from theft, fraud, and dishonesty by Jonathan Parker.

PETER MCCUTCHEON: Parker denies this. He told 7.30.

EXTRACT OF A STATEMENT FROM JONATHAN PARKER TO 7.30: I was paying myself and parents back for expenses incurred earlier. I made all those transactions after consulting with shareholders.

PETER MCCUTCHEON: New South Wales Police didn't press charges.

A spokesman said the investigation was suspended and it is understood the file has since been forwarded to the corporate regulator, ASIC.

And there was a direct complaint to ASIC in April 2013 by Parker's then wife and daughter of investor, Sid Jackson.

YASMIN PARKER: Jonathan had started to make up stories that were a little bit inconsistent with what I was seeing.

And then that was when I did the company search on Freenet to find out that the shares that Jonathan claimed my family had, he never had.

PETER MCCUTCHEON: Yasmin Parker, who is now a practising property lawyer, was bitterly disappointed by ASIC's response.

YASMIN PARKER: Initially they were interested, they asked me to forward through the documents that I had in relation to the share raising and the transfer of funds and things like that and their response in the end was they didn't consider it to be in the public interest for them to investigate the matter any further.

PETER MCCUTCHEON: Freenet went into voluntary liquidation in November 2014.

The liquidators report to creditors last month reveals the corporate regulator has since had a change of mind about the company.

EXTRACT FROM A REPORT TO CREDITORS BY VINCENT ACCOUNTANTS: ASIC has advised ... it has commenced an investigation in relation to the conduct of former director, Jonathan William Parker.

PETER MCCUTCHEON: In meantime, Parker has been looking for new business opportunities.

Last July, he convinced this young Townsville couple to buy shares in his latest scheme, an unregistered company he called R3DKAT.

PIA ROBINSON, R3DKAT INVESTOR: He seemed really smart, really screwed on. He told us that he had worked in all these big places and that he knew everything and like in IT, he knew everything to do, he knew that he could run it and he said that we didn't have to really do anything in the business.

PETER MCCUTCHEON: The couple drew up their own contract for what they thought was a bitcoin mining company.

They say they handed over $40,000 for a 40 per cent share in a datacentre to be built in this industrial estate. They soon had a falling out. Parker left town and they tried to report him to police.

What happened when you reported the matter to local police?

RICKY JACKSON:, R3DKAT INVESTOR: They told me to seek legal advice and it was a matter for the civil court, not a matter for police.

PETER MCCUTCHEON: Did they take any official note of your complaint?

RICKY JACKSON: No.

PETER MCCUTCHEON: Parker himself has declined to be interviewed on camera. He admits signing the contract but denies receiving $40,000.

Parker is now living in Hobart and has registered a new aerospace company, Green Tail Industries, with this house in Sandy Bay as his registered place of residence.

With regards to Freenet he told 7.30.

EXTRACT OF A STATEMENT FROM JONATHAN PARKER TO 7.30: There were mistakes made but I didn't know how to respond.

I had substance abuse and alcohol issues and I ended up in hospital.

I lost everything.

PETER MCCUTCHEON: But his family and investors who lost millions are not sympathetic claiming Jonathan William Parker has fallen between the cracks of police and ASIC.

YASMIN PARKER: It has been an incredibly difficult time and it has dragged out for so long and I think that has made it a lot worse.

MARIANNE AGUIS: This is not a mistake that Jonathan has made once. It is an offence that he has done many, many times and knowingly he has made that.