The director of the Forum Group companies accused of a $360 million fraud involving at least three major banks can’t return to Australia from Greece because he has COVID-19, his lawyer has told the Federal Court.
ASIC’s case accusing Westpac of insider trading before the $16 billion privatisation of electricity provider Ausgrid should be heard “as quickly as the court can deal with it”, a judge has said.
Japanese bankng giant SMBC has emerged as the latest lender with exposure to an alleged fraud carried out by Sydney-based Forum Finance, with proceedings filed seeking recovery of almost $99 million it says it paid to a unit of Forum Group and controversial director Bill Papas.
ASIC is seeking $1.5 million in penalties against insurers Allianz and AWP after they admitted to misleading or deceiving the public by selling travel insurance to ineligible customers through three Expedia-owned websites.
Zurich Group life insurance subsidiary OnePath Life will refund $35 million to 40,000 customers who were sold life insurance over the phone and were subject to “egregious” sales practices.
ASIC may end exemptions for law firms running class actions under conditional costs schemes from complying with registration and licensing requirements that were put in place as part of the federal government’s reforms targeting litigation funders.
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.
Dixon Advisory has agreed to pay a $7.2 million penalty after admitting to ASIC’s allegations that it failed to act in its clients’ best interests on 53 occasions.
The former boss of defence shipbuilder Austal, who is facing penalty proceedings by ASIC, has told a court the regulator’s case was based on information that fit within a carveout to the ASX listing rules on continuous dislosure to the market.
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.