Whether or not there were issues with the aircraft, to my understanding, from the claims made on Australian Story, Barry Hempel should not have been flying with a fare paying passenger.
To achieve this (providing a commercial operation), Barry Hempel did not act alone. I understand someone else held the AOC he operated under, and someone else was named last night as Chief Pilot at the time. There may have been someone else (receptionist?) who took bookings / money.
Surely others within the organisation knew? At the very least, surely the CP knew the status of one of his pilot's medical / CPL / recency / F&D?
It will be interesting to see if charges are eventually laid against others in the business, seeing as charges have already reportedly been laid against the DAMEs who signed off as his medical.