Several banks and executives facing criminal cartel charges over a $2.5 billion ANZ share placement have won access to interview notes taken by whistleblower JP Morgan prior to it being granted immunity, which the banks say will prove inconsistencies in the prosecution’s case.
A judge has granted OTC trader EuropeFX more time to file its defence to an 80-page statement of claim and over 2,000 pages of particulars filed by ASIC in its case accusing the company of knowingly exposing its Chinese customers to criminal charges.
The federal government has cut the budget for the Australian Securities and Investments Commission by $62.7 million in tandem with the regulator’s corporate registry being shifted to the ATO, but a legal expert told Lawyerly the cut could also signal a movement away from the “why not litigate” approach adopted in the wake of the banking royal commission.
ASIC has taken a leaf out of the playbook of Australia’s courts in granting litigation funders temporary relief from having to disclose certain sensitive financial information in their product disclosure statements.
HWL Ebsworth has been ordered to hand over file notes to a former client and whistleblower suing ANZ for unfair dismissal, with a judge rejecting the law firm’s argument that the notes were created solely for the benefit of the junior solicitor taking them.
Superannuation provider Statewide Super has announced that it will not defend civil penalty proceedings brought by ASIC over an administrative error which resulted in around 12,500 fund members being charged for non-existent insurance.
Westpac has been accused by the corporate regulator of insider trading before the $16 billion privatisation of electricity provider Ausgrid.
ASIC has won a $20 million judgment against derivative trader Forex CT for using “unfair” sales tactics and misleading clients into making trades from which the company would benefit even when they had informed their adviser they had limited financial resources.
UK-based Woodsford Litigation Funding has become the first overseas funder authorised to finance Australian class actions under recent laws cracking down on the litigation funding industry.
A Herbert Smith Freehills lawyer and former Deutsche Bank general counsel who previously led ASIC’s litigation and enforcement team has been appointed to replace the corporate regulator’s outgoing chair James Shipton.