BCR Advisory appointed Daniel Moore to liquidate the gin maker on Thursday, following a recent court case which led to the business being forced to vacate its base of operations for not paying rent.

Mr Atherton founded the company in 2019, having left the army to make a small fortune selling memberships to porn websites.

Brisbane Distillery Company had claimed to be the first manufacturer in the city to “produce quality local spirits with Australian botanicals.”

It is not clear what will happen to remaining staff at the business at this stage.

In May, the Supreme Court ordered the company to vacate its premises in Brisbane’s West End after it fell behind on rent.

In documents submitted to court, the building’s landlord claimed Mr Atherton then “forcibly regained possession of the property” after the locks were changed.

Mr Atherton denied that allegation at the time and he has not been charged with any criminal wrongdoing.

According to documents submitted to ASIC by Mr Moore as part of the liquidation process, Brisbane Distillery Company owes the Australian Taxation Office more than $420,000 as well as other amounts to his landlord and suppliers.

Mr Moore and Mr Atherton were approached for comment by SkyNews.com.au.

Speaking after the court case in May, Mr Atherton said COVID-19 and the aftermath had been “challenging” for the business, with flooding also resulting in the loss of some stock and equipment.

The company listed its custom double-decker bus for sale in April in an effort to recoup some revenue, saying it was a “a strategic decision to focus our efforts on distribution and growing other parts of our business”.

Painted navy blue and fitted out with a full bar, the bus could seat 30 guests and had been used to offer customers a unique drinking experience.

Before his entry into gin manufacturing, Mr Atherton amassed a fortune selling memberships to porn websites in the 1990s.

After seven years in the army, he moved into software development and became famous for his ownership of Spotwire Pty Ltd which sold access to adult content.

Filings from a 2003 Brisbane Supreme Court hearing gave a glimpse into the success of the company, which had 92,983 customers at the time and was charging each about $30 for membership.

That would have generated more than $2.7 million in revenue annually, assuming memberships were charged per year.

According to his LinkedIn page, Mr Atherton also begun developing apps for iOS and Android in 2008.

One of those apps, called “Wobble” allowed users to move a person’s body parts within an image.

Mr Atherton told News Corp in 2012 that the majority of users were teenage boys, who purchased the app so they could wobble the breasts of women in their camera roll on iPhones.