Thorn Group is the latest lender ensnared in an alleged $400 million fraud by Forum Finance, with potential funds of up to $2.2 million tied up in the collapsed equipment leasing firm.
Clive Palmer will seek special leave from the High Court to appeal a ruling from the Queensland Court of Appeal ordering him to return $102 million borrowed before the collapse of Queensland Nickel in 2016, and has demanded that the company’s liquidators return the money he paid following the ruling.
A judge has questioned the legal disbursements sought to be approved in a $30 million class action settlement against Westpac over allegedly excessive life insurance premiums, particularly the “extraordinarily large” barrister fees charged in the case.
A judge has allowed a key US-based witness in ASIC’s case against former Quintis director Frank Wilson who will not submit to 14 days in hotel quarantine to give evidence by video link.
The director of the Forum Group companies accused of a $360 million fraud involving at least three major banks can’t return to Australia from Greece because he has COVID-19, his lawyer has told the Federal Court.
Japanese bankng giant SMBC has emerged as the latest lender with exposure to an alleged fraud carried out by Sydney-based Forum Finance, with proceedings filed seeking recovery of almost $99 million it says it paid to a unit of Forum Group and controversial director Bill Papas.
Despite a judge’s urging for the parties to arrive at a “pragmatic solution”, the lawyers behind competing pelvic mesh class actions against Boston Scientific will duke it out for carriage of the proceedings.
The Federal Court has ordered the winding up of Forum Finance, which has been accused by Westpac and French investment bank Societe Generale of a $263 million fraud, as details of the company’s jetsetting director’s planned return to Australia from Europe remain murky.
The director of Forum Finance, which has been accused by Westpac and Societe Generale of a $263 million fraud, is in Europe and will return to Australia over the weekend, although he has refused to tell his lawyer his exact location, a court has heard.
Law firm HWL Ebsworth says it has avoided any negative financial impact from its connection with Sydney financial firm Forum Finance, which has been accused by Westpac of a $263 million fraud.