ACCC

Victorian electric utility Sumo Power has been fined $1.2 million for luring customers with the promise of discounts and low rates only to jack up their prices months later.

Two executives of failed car washing franchise Geowash have failed in their attempt to overturn a $2.7 million penalty for overcharging and misleading franchisees, with the Full Court finding they had engaged in "a consistent pattern of conduct which was deceitful and dishonest".

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is seeking a $1.2 million penalty against Victorian electric utility Sumo Power for luring customers with the promise of discounts and low rates only to jack up their prices months later.

The ACCC has cleared Woolworths' planned $552 million acquisition of a 65 per cent stake in wholesale food distributor PFD Food Services without the supermarket giant's proposed undertaking to maintain independence between the company for three years.

Volkswagen has asked the High Court to throw out a a landmark $125 million penalty over its emissions cheating scandal, the highest ever handed down in Australia for consumer law violations.

Video game developer Epic Games has asked the Full Federal Court to overturn an "illogical" decision sending its competition lawsuit against Apple to California, saying the move would have a "chilling effect" on the enforcement of Australia's competition laws.

Telecommunications companies Dodo and iPrimus must pay $2.5 million in penalties for making misleading claims about their NBN broadband speeds, a court has ruled.

JPMorgan is fighting to keep details of failed settlement talks with ASIC under wraps in criminal cartel proceedings over a $2.5 billion ANZ share placement, as ANZ seeks to uncover whether the corporate regulator made a deal with the investment bank ahead of the cartel case being filed.

Mosaic Brands has paid $630,000 in penalties after being hit with infringement notices by the ACCC for misleading claims made about hand sanitiser and masks sold on its websites at the height of COVID-19 pandemic last year.

The failed franchisor behind the Jump Swim Schools brand has been hit with a $23 million penalty for what a Federal Court judge found were "very serious" consumer law contraventions.