Corporate

Defence lawyers are bracing for a wave of class actions over companies’ use of generative artificial intelligence, with privacy, discrimination, consumer, product liability and shareholder claims expected.

A judge has scolded former directors of Mosaic Brands after they failed to comply with orders made last week ahead of a 10-day public examination as special purpose liquidators investigate $196 million in potential insolvent trading claims and directors duty breach claims.

After getting the nod from a judge, the trustee for the Dexus bloc of shareholders in airport operator APAC has lodged an appeal of a finding that it committed a material and irremediable breach of the owners' deed.

Super trustee Diversa has denied it is liable for $300 million in alleged investor losses after it made the First Guardian Master Fund available on its platform, pointing the finger at responsible entity Falcon Capital, its directors and ASX-listed promoter Praemium.

ASIC’s chair says the corporate cop is investigating individuals at KPMG for alleged misuse of confidential information belonging to Lendlease and Optus to win new work, but says it is hamstrung by current law from undertaking a broader probe. 

The liquidators of a NSW coal mine formerly owned by Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG Alliance have applied to the court to disclaim a deed under which GFG paid handsome royalties to former owner Glencore. 

The former boss of Metigy has been sentenced to nine years behind bars after pleading guilty to misusing company funds and providing false information to investors, who pumped $40 million into the AI start-up.

A judge has approved a $35 million penalty against HSBC in ASIC’s novel case over the bank's scam protection failures, despite questioning whether the punishment was severe enough given how long the case took to settle.

HSBC has agreed to pay a $35 million penalty in ASIC proceedings after it admitted to serious failures in protecting customers from scams, but a judge is questioning whether the penalty is high enough. 

A judge has ordered the former CEO and chief legal officer of Star to pay a combined $1.1 million in penalties for failing to act on "obvious" money laundering risks, but said the fines would have been higher had ASIC not struck a "generous" settlement with other directors.