A judge on Friday asked the corporate regulator why it delayed action against former Murray Goulburn managing director Gary Helou and CFO Bradley Hingle until two years’ after the consumer watchdog brought its case against the pair.
Former Tennis Australia director Harold Mitchell has told a court that the corporate regulator had to be dragged “kicking and screaming” to produce documents in its enforcement action over alleged breaches of directorial duties involving negotiations for the Australian Open broadcast rights.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has warned superannuation funds they face criminal penalties if they try to win over employers with tickets to sporting events or other gifts.
Lawyers for former Vocation CEO Mark Hutchinson say the corporate regulator is “plucking numbers out of the air” in its bid to secure disqualifications of up to eight years against the former executives who breached their directors’ duties in relation to the collapsed education provider.
Ex-Tennis Australia director Harold Mitchell, facing enforcement action by ASIC alleging he breached his duties in awarding Australian Open broadcast rights to the Seven Network, has asked a court for all evidence the regulator obtained from former board member Graeme Holloway, who died in February.
AMP Financial Planning has attempted to qualify its admission to so-called insurance churn allegations by the corporate watchdog, suggesting it might not have admitted to “all contraventions” if it had known ASIC would push for up to 120 separate breaches and $36 million in penalties.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission is planning to sue ANZ over $35 million in allegedly illegal customer fees, which were also at the centre of two class actions settlements reached last year under which customers are expected to walk away with no more than $100 apiece.
Former finance guru and TV personality Sam Henderson has been banned from providing financial services for three years after an ASIC surveillance operation and shock revelations from the banking royal commission that one of his staff members impersonated a Fair Work commissioner.
Defence shipbuilder Austal faces legal action by the corporate regulator challenging claims of privilege over documents sought as part of a probe into disclosures linked to cost overruns on the company’s $4 billion US Navy ship-building program.
The corporate watchdog has proposed a complete ban on unsolicited telephone sales of life insurance and consumer credit insurance, as an urgent placeholder ahead of wider reforms recommended after last year’s banking royal commission.