A financial adviser at the centre of ASIC’s bad advice case against an IOOF unit might mount an argument that a fair trial is not possible because of his “fulsome” answers to investigators during a compulsory examination.
ASIC’s warning about the futility of mediation with an IOOF subsidiary has proved prophetic, with talks last week failing to resolve the regulator’s case ahead of trial starting Monday.
A judge has ordered ASIC to enter mediation before heading into a “very expensive” trial with an IOOF subsidiary accused of giving shonky advice, over objections from the regulator that mediation would be “completely futile”.
A judge has issued a temporary injunction stopping roadworks along the Buangor and Ararat stretch of the Western Highway improvement project in Victoria ahead of a trial over the cultural significance of the area for its traditional owners.
An IOOF subsidiary sued over “bad advice” has failed in its bid to stop ASIC from using documents from the banking royal commission as evidence in the case, with a judge saying the company had already provided the material to the financial watchdog without objection.
Billionaire Lindsay Fox and property magnate Max Beck have lost a dispute over the valuation of land at their jointly operated Essendon Airport, with a judge siding with the Federal Government’s method that calculated the site’s value at $349 million, not $7.1 million as claimed by their expert.