ASIC

Developer Robert Filippini, who is suspected of fraudulently receiving investor money from defunct Keystone Asset Management, is seeking to appeal an extension of freezing orders over family trusts that hold property and several luxury cars.

Describing it as the most significant corporate governance action taken in his time at ASIC, the regulator's chief says the Star case is a wake-up call for directors.

A seventh person linked to MWL Financial has copped a ban for recommending Keystone's Shield Master Fund, which collapsed alongside the First Guardian Fund owing over $1 billion.

The judgment in ASIC's case against Star's top executives and directors sounds a warning that board members need to proactively test information and serves as a "stark reminder" to general counsel that their duties are owed to the company, not management, experts tell Lawyerly.

The corporate regulator has filed proceedings seeking to wind up a company in the steel empire of billionaire Sanjeev Gupta for failure to lodge financial reports for four years. 

A court has granted the corporate regulator leave to proceed with a lawsuit against collapsed advisory firm MWL Financial for advising clients to invest $114 million in their super into Keystone’s troubled Shield Master Fund. 

Delivering his findings on ASIC’s action against Star Entertainment executives on Thursday, Federal Court Justice Michael Lee remarked that the “self-congratulatory submissions" of former board members named in the case were "jarring”.

In finding Star Entertainment's former group general counsel liable for breaches of duty, the judge overseeing ASIC's case has questioned the chief lawyer's insistence that she "rarely gave legal advice" and that her roles with the company should be delineated.

ASIC has had mixed success in a case against former Star directors and officers, with a judge finding the casino operator’s former CEO and GC breached their duties but that claims against the former board fell short.

The corporate regulator has launched proceedings to wind up a company in the steel empire of billionaire Sanjeev Gupta for its failure to lodge financial reports for four years.