Embattled investment firm Linchpin Capital has sued auditors Grant Thornton and Moore Stephens for signing off on the compliance plan for a registered fund that allegedly used investor money to advance the company’s business interests and line its directors’ pockets.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has suffered a defeat in proceedings alleging the Commonwealth Bank of Australia accepted conflicted remuneration through the sale of its Essential Super product, with a judge finding the regulator “ignored the circumstances” in which the product was distributed.
Two former executives of defunct electronics retailer Dick Smith have asked the High Court to hear their challenge to a $11.8 million damages award for approving a dividend payment the company could not afford.
A judge has suggested that financial services giant AMP bring an application for summary dismissal of part of a class action over allegedly excessive insurance premiums, questioning the basis for the claims.
A judge has found that a 60 Minutes broadcast by Nine, but not a related article, carried defamatory meanings about Euro Pacific Bank boss Peter Schiff, saying the broadcast’s use of ominous music and shadowy figures invited judgment from viewers.
A Queensland lawyer who sold unlawful payday loans through a sham diamond trade has lost a battle to renew his practicing certificate, with an appeals court tossing as baseless his claim that he was the victim of autism discrimination.
A judge has imposed a $14.5 million penalty on five AMP entities, saying it was “surprising and concerning” that the wealth manager deducted $356,000 from customers’ superannuation accounts for advice they never received, despite numerous complaints.
Two receivers for unlicensed investment scheme A One Multi Services have lost their bid to have 85 per cent of their future remuneration paid out immediately, with a judge agreeing with the corporate regulator that the receivers should not have “what are in effect trust funds”.
A judge has signed off on a $7.2 million penalty against Dixon Advisory after the company admitted to ASIC allegations that its advisors failed to act in its clients’ best interests by recommending they invest in a risky US-based real estate investment fund.
Westpac has criticized the lead applicant in a class action filed in the wake of AUSTRAC proceedings for the “disorderly” conduct of the lagging proceedings, with discovery yet to be finalized as the case nears its third anniversary.