A cybersecurity business feted by politicians and awarded a $15 million state contract just before the Queensland election has shut down key operations.
Cryptoloc has also extinguished its own website and a subcontractor working on its state government contract says they have been unable to contact the business.
It raises questions about the future rollout of the contract to help boost cybersecurity for small businesses, only months after the deal was awarded to Cryptoloc in an announcement by the previous Labor government.
Steve Minnikin, Minister for Customer Services and Open Data under the new LNP administration, told the ABC the department was "assessing the supplier's compliance with the contract including monitoring financial and contractual performance and has issued contractual notices to this effect".
The problems come after an ABC investigation revealed dire problems with a company run by Cryptoloc founder Jamie Wilson, an entrepreneur who rubbed shoulders with celebrities and whose entities made $320,000 in donations to both sides of politics.
Court documents showed that company, Your Digital File (Aust), had not been paying staff wages on time. It was put into liquidation in November this year after failing to pay bills from the Australian Taxation Office.
Cryptoloc was heralded as a way of keeping key documents in a centralised, hacker-proof online environment — an idea spurred after Mr Wilson's tough scramble to gather documents when his father was suffering from terminal cancer.
But Cryptoloc customers were sent an email saying its cloud product would be "discontinued" midway through this month and they should download all their information before shutdown.
After that time, the service would not be available and "access to your data will not be possible", the customer notice said.
The website for Cryptoloc and its LinkedIn page have also been deleted.
The former state government ran a tender earlier this year for a $15 million program that would help small businesses boost their cybersecurity.
Cryptoloc Holdings won the tender to run the project in September with Mr Wilson, quoted as the business's executive chairman, saying the program was crucial.
An initial $2 million payment was made to the business before the election.
Cryptoloc brought in other people to help deliver the project, including the Australian Impact Group, which had been working on helping with training and compliance just this month.
But Australian Impact Group director Miranda Mears confirmed to the ABC that she had been unable to contact anyone from Cryptoloc after the website was shut down.
"We really do hope that we have the opportunity to deliver," she said.
Mr Wilson has not responded to queries from the ABC and has deleted his LinkedIn profile, from which he once promoted his business video podcasts on issues such as branding.
He interviewed people from US fitness influencer Jillian Michaels, who has 1.5 million Instagram followers and was a trainer in the US series of The Biggest Loser, to UFC announcer Bruce "It's Time" Buffer.
Cryptoloc, which traces its history back almost a decade, seems to have undergone a corporate reshuffle midway through 2024.
The main entity up until then had been YDF Holdings, a public unlisted company.
Its shareholders received communications under the Cryptoloc banner and the now-failed company Your Digital File (Aust) was one of its subsidiaries.
One update to shareholders earlier this year stated that given "volatility surrounding cybersecurity companies", a share market float of the business "at this time would not be consistent with delivering strong shareholder returns".
The business said it had earned $7.4 million in revenue and posted a loss of $3 million for the year to June 2024, and it was "poised to build on the strong foundations we have laid".
Another subsidiary of YDF Holdings is still listed as owning the branding rights to Cryptoloc.
But in June, Cryptoloc Technology Pty Ltd, which had been listed on the Cryptoloc website, was split from that umbrella group and is owned by Cryptoloc Holdings Pty Ltd.
Mr Wilson was the sole director of Cryptoloc Holdings until October this year, with another person associated with Cryptoloc now listed as director.
The failed company Your Digital File (Aust) has had Nick Combis from Vincents appointed as liquidator. Other entities have not been placed in administration.