The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has secured a third guilty plea stemming from its investigation into a $180 million Ponzi scheme run by the Courteney House group of companies.
A judge has ordered Western Australian biotech Holista Colltech to pay a penalty of $1.8 million for making misleading representations to the market about sales of its natural sanitiser product during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and hit its CEO with a four-year ban.
A judge has declined to set aside a travel ban against a former director of collapsed cryptocurrency platform Blockchain Global, noting that the company’s liquidators may have claims of up to $42.9 million against him.
A former company secretary of defunct mining and exploration company Continental Coal will spend at least 2 years in jail after pleading guilty to three criminal charges, including stealing $2.2 million and forging a bank statement.
Online florist Bloomex has been slapped with a $1 million penalty for “serious” misleading representations about its discounts and star ratings system.
In a loss for the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, a judge has found that comparison website Finder did not need a financial services licence to sell its cryptocurrency product Finder Earn because it was not a financial product.
ASIC has banned mining magnate Joseph ‘Diamond Joe’ Gutnick from managing corporations for four years because of his involvement in three companies that went under owing at least $43 million to creditors.
Financial crimes regulator AUSTRAC has launched an enforcement investigation into British online betting company Bet365, after receiving an audit report on the company’s compliance with anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws.
The ACCC will attempt to make online shopping less treacherous for consumers this year, vowing to take enforcement action against misleading influencers, online reviews, in-app purchases and price comparison sites.
ASX Limited has paid a $1,050,000 fine after the corporate regulator pinged it with an infringement notice for failing to comply with market integrity rules — a first against the market operator.