Premier Investments Chairman Solomon Lew has made wild allegations at a press conference against former Smiggle boss John Cheston, who was sacked last year.

The Australian has reported that Lew has accused Cheston of being part of a “mob” of former Premier Investment executives who allegedly engaged in drunkenness at work, bribery, gambling, sexual harassment, bullying and product tampering.

Not all the allegations made are directed at Cheston and The Australian isn’t suggesting the allegations are true, only that they have been made and investigated.

In a statement, Cheston told The Australian, “To the extent this latest rant is about Mr Cheston, it is simply not true…. Mr Cheston has moved on and Premier should do the same.”

Cheston was sacked in June 2024 after he’d already given notice to take up the chief executive role at jewellery chain Lovisa, after more than a decade at Smiggle, during which he oversaw the chain’s global expansion.

Smiggle has struggled while Peter Alexander has delivered for Premier

Lovisa is owned by another billionaire retailer, Brett Blundy. As Channel News reported yesterday, Blundy appears to be currently considering a bid for KMD Brands, owner of Kathmandu, Rip Curl, and Oboz.

In 2021, Richard Murray, former Group CEO of JB Hi-Fi, joined Premier Investments as the CEO of Premier Retail, where he worked with Cheston. Murray later left Premier to become the CEO of Total Tools, a division of Metcash Limited.

There is no evidence of impropriety by Murray during his time at Premier Investments.

Murray left Total Tools earlier this year, after a relatively short tenure, and is now CFO of Sigma Healthcare.

Mr Lew made the allegations at a press conference that was expected to revolve around Premier’s retail arm’s mixed FY25 results.

Mr Lew said the past financial year was both “challenging and exciting” as the company faced tough conditions across local and international markets, losses stemming from Peter Alexander’s launch in Britain, and supply chain headaches for Smiggle.

But Lew stressed things were going relatively well, all things considered, with statutory profit rising 31% to 338.2 million as revenue lifted 1.2% to $831.4 million.