The judge overseeing ASIC’s case against logistics provider GetSwift cannot draw any inferences against the company because directors Bane Hunter and Joel Macdonald did not give evidence at trial, GetSwift’s barrister has said during closing submissions in the case.
Three law firms will represent the insurers in new proceedings launched to resolve a $46 million insurance question delaying settlement of two shareholder class actions against sandlewood producer Quintis, bringing the total number of law firms working on the class action to eight.
A former director of GetSwift has given evidence at trial in ASIC’s case against the logistics provider that the company drafted a correction to a misleading ASX announcement about a deal with fruit and milk delivery provider Fruit Box but never released it.
In a defeat to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, a judge has found a key witness in the trial against former Quintis director Frank Wilson must give evidence in person, delaying the hearing indefinitely until coronavirus-related travel restrictions are lifted.
A judge has dismissed a defensive bid by ASIC to amend its case against GetSwift mid-trial, instead calling on “common sense” to be injected into the proceeding as the hearing enters its second week.
GetSwift “sat on” an announcement about a lucrative deal with US-based automotive sales and marketing firm N.A. Williams for more than three weeks, then leaked the news to the media before announcing it on the Australian Stock Exchange, ASIC has told the Federal Court on day two of a trial in the corporate regulator’s case against the logistics tech company.
Émails show the directors of logistics company GetSwift took a “deliberate approach” to inflating the company’s share price through a constant supply of positive ASX announcements about new multimillion-dollar contracts, ASIC said on the first day of a highly anticipated five-week trial.
The settlement of two shareholder class actions against sandalwood producer Quintis has been delayed for a second time, as the parties continue to investigate the company’s eleventh-hour revelation that it may have extra insurance, which, according to the lawyers of one class action, could be worth $46 million to group members.
Sandalwood producer Quintis has agreed to settle two class actions by shareholders, but the claims against company founder Frank Wilson and auditor EY will proceed for now.
For the lawyers conducting the committal hearings in the criminal cartel case over ANZ’s $2.5 billion equity raising, the Sydney Downing Centre courtroom was already too close for comfort.