The corporate regulator has reprimanded a liquidator for “serious” breaches of independence rules, and has directed the insolvency practitioner to refuse appointments until next year.
A judge has signed off on a $4.7 million settlement in two investor class actions against collapsed sandalwood producer Quintis, two year after an earlier settlement was scuttled as group members kicked off an insurance dispute in pursuit of a better return.
In its first decision applying a landmark High Court judgment redefining the test for when a worker is employed, the Federal Court has found a sessional lecturer for a higher education institution was an employee.
ASIC has brought court proceedings against wealth manager Mercer Financial Advice, alleging the company charged fees for services it did not provide and made false and misleading representations to thousands of customers.
Origin Energy has been hit with a record $17 million penalty for violating its obligation to protect financially vulnerable customers, including by disconnecting the services of some who were on a payment plan.
A judge has rejected a bid by the corporate regulator to access an unredacted PricewaterhouseCoopers report commissioned by coal miner TerraCom ahead of a challenge to a decision that cleared the way for the regulator to eye the document as part of an investigation.
Optus has railed against the proposed network sharing agreement between Telstra and TPG, warning that it spells the return of a communications monopoly in regional Australia.
Ultra Tune is facing contempt of court proceedings for allegedly breaching a judge’s orders and failing to meet the requirements of a court-ordered compliance program, instituted after the company copped a $2 million fine for contravening its disclosure obligations to franchisees.
ASIC has won an appeal of a judge’s decision that found Gold Coast-based payday lenders Cigno and BHF did not need a licence to issue loans to hundreds of thousands of consumers.
A former Sigma Healthcare executive has been sentenced to a suspended term of 14 months’ in prison after pleading guilty to trading on insider information.