Investment banks accused in the criminal cartel case over a $2.5 billion ANZ share placement will not lose their right to a fair trial with the release of a judgment finding the prosecutors’ indictment deficient, a judge has ruled.
The Federal Court has ordered the winding up of Forum Finance, which has been accused by Westpac and French investment bank Societe Generale of a $263 million fraud, as details of the company’s jetsetting director’s planned return to Australia from Europe remain murky.
A judge has approved a $50 million settlement in a shareholder class action against failed training company Vocation and auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers, but questioned whether the $10.9 million commission and $12.75 million legal bill could have been “materially lower” had the case been run by one funder and firm instead of two.
A judge has ordered the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions to file a replacement indictment to address defects in the document at the centre of its criminal cartel case over a $2.5 billion ANZ share placement in August 2015.
The director of Forum Finance, which has been accused by Westpac and Societe Generale of a $263 million fraud, is in Europe and will return to Australia over the weekend, although he has refused to tell his lawyer his exact location, a court has heard.
Law firm HWL Ebsworth says it has avoided any negative financial impact from its connection with Sydney financial firm Forum Finance, which has been accused by Westpac of a $263 million fraud.
Western Power was negligent in causing the January 2014 Perth Hills bushfire which destroyed 57 homes, an appeals court has found, putting the state-owned electricity company on the hook for the majority of the damage caused to members in the group action.
Motivated by greed, online educator Captain Cook College engaged in a system of unconscionable conduct by enrolling thousands of students who accrued $60 million in debt but never finished their courses, a court has found.
Third-party liability insurers may become the latest parties to be dragged into a complex class action over alleged defects in Sydney’s Opal Tower, which has has spawned six cross-claims so far.
Westpac and French investment bank Societe Generale have obtained freezing orders over $263 million in assets in fraud cases brought against a Sydney software firm and its director, with a court hearing that other financial institutions may also be at risk from the alleged fraud.