The ACCC’s investigatory techniques have come under fire during a hearing over an alleged criminal cartel agreement between ANZ and two investment banks, with a barrister for one of the banks suggesting investigators from the regulator deliberately did not take notes during hundreds of days of witness interviews to avoid disclosure.
IP Australia has appealed a judge’s decision to allow four Aristocrat gaming patents to proceed to grant, hoping for another victory after winning two high stakes challenges to software patents before the Full Federal Court.
ASIC has called for a $15 million penalty against National Australia Bank over its scandal-ridden ‘Introducer’ loan referral program, but a judge has questioned the “superficial” investigations in the case and remarked on the corporate regulator’s “pattern” of bringing enforcement action after remediation programs were well underway.
Despite receiving immunity in a criminal cartel case against ANZ and two other investment banks, JPMorgan has disputed the existence of any cartel agreement since the early days of the ACCC’s investigations, a court has heard.
IOOF has admitted that some allegations in an employee complaint at the centre of a shareholder class action were “substantially true”, including claims that it overstated the performance of its ‘Buy Model’ investment portfolio and that its head of research instructed subordinates to complete his training courses for him.
Australia’s corporate watchdog has lost its bid to obtain Ashurst’s advice to Australia and New Zealand Banking Group about potentially illegal bank fees “for now”, but a judge has signalled that this may not be the end of the matter.
Westpac has been hit with a class action over a “shonky” car loan scheme, in what is the first class to be filed in Victoria Supreme Court following passage of a state law allowing lawyers to earn contingency fees.
Westpac has denied claims in a shareholder class action filed in the wake of AUSTRAC proceedings alleging 23 million breaches of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism finance laws, saying the information the class action says it should have disclosed to shareholders “did not exist”.
The judge hearing a class action trial against Ford over its allegedly defective Powershift transmission has rejected the car maker’s argument that certain documents should be suppressed because they hold trade secrets, saying Ford did not invent the 6 Sigma problem solving method on which some of the reports were based.
Westpac is facing a class action over an allegedly dishonest car loan scheme that was eventually banned by the corporate regulator.