The corporate regulator should not be immune from the risk of special costs for actions doomed to fail, says a judge who flayed ASIC last month for bringing a case against TerraCom directors it should have known was a dud.
Former director of fintech iSignthis, John Karantzis, plans to appeal a ruling that slapped him with a $1 million penalty and disqualification orders for allegedly providing misleading information to shareholders.
A judge has handed iSignthis and its director $11 million in penalties for failing to give adequate disclosures and giving misleading information to the ASX, saying reliance on legal advice was no reason to reduce the fine.
A judge has said ASIC should have known that its case against four TerraCom directors over statements made to investors had no prospects of success, calling one of its submissions “unworthy of the corporations regulator”.
Referring to a “growing problem” noticed by the Federal Court, a judge has slapped a law firm in a native title case with costs for its use of artificial intelligence to generate false document citations.
ASIC has told a court that a PwC report into allegations of inaccurate coal pricing found that 12 “inconsistent” invoices issued by TerraCom resulted in a $1.15 million benefit to the company, contrary to the company’s claim that the audit found no wrongdoing.
Penalty proceedings in ASIC’s case against coal producer TerraCom have been put on ice until the regulator’s suit against the company’s directors goes to trial.
Coal producer TerraCom has agreed to pay $7.5 million to resolve ASIC proceedings alleging it made misleading statement to the market that damaged a whistleblower’s reputation.
Four directors of coal producer TerraCom have flagged they will not show their hand in the corporate regulator’s first-ever case alleging breaches of whistleblower protections.
ASIC has won approval to bring claims against troubled regional airline Rex and four of its directors for allegedly misleading investors about the company’s financial position.