Insolvency practitioners are holding their breath as the High Court hears a case that could abolish a key rule used by liquidators in recouping payments to unsecured creditors at a time when the industry is bracing for a possible recession.
Max Twigg, race car driver and former owner of the famous Byron Bay Hotel, has lost an appeal of a judge’s finding that he misappropriated around $100 million in family trust money and took steps to conceal the transfer of funds from his mother.
The ATO has won a legal challenge over when it can claim tax from trust income, with the High Court finding beneficiaries cannot “retrospectively expunge” their entitlements to the proceeds of a trust despite the potential “unfairness” this creates.
The High Court will clarify the so-called peak indebtedness rule used by liquidators recouping payments to unsecured creditors, granting a special leave application brought by the liquidators of collapsed forestry giant Gunns Group.
In a victory for Victorian independent candidate Zoe Daniel, the state’s Supreme Court has found that promotional signs displayed on lawns did not fall foul of a local council ban on unauthorised displays.
An unsecured creditor of collapsed forestry giant Gunns Group has partially succeeded on appeal of a judgment that ordered repayment of $2 million that Gunns had transferred in 2021 despite trading while insolvent.
The High Court has granted special leave in a test case by the Australian Taxation Office concerning the effectiveness of disclaimers by trust beneficiaries giving up entitlements to trust income and any associated tax obligations.
The liquidators of retirement village group Australian Property Custodian Holdings, which went into administration in 2010 owing $948 million, have had their proposal to compensate unitholders under a global proof of debt rejected by a judge, who called the plan vague and “unsatisfactory”.
Race car driver and former owner of the famed Byron Bay Hotel, Max Twigg, has launched an appeal of a ruling that he misappropriated around $100 million in family trust money and took steps to conceal the transfer of funds from his mother.
Over-the-counter derivative issuers AGM Markets, OT Markets and Oxifin Tech have been ordered to pay a total of $75 million in penalties after a ruling that they engaged in unconscionable conduct causing losses of over $30 million to unsophisticated investors seeking what a judge called “financial heroin hits”.