Collapsed vocational education provider Phoenix Institute and its marketing arm have been hit with a record $438 million penalty after a judge found they acted unconscionably and with “callous indifference” by enticing vulnerable consumers to enrol in unsuitable courses with promises of free laptops.
The former director of Select AFSL has appealed a judge’s decision to slap him with a $100,000 penalty and a disqualification order after finding he “turned a blind eye” to the life insurer’s unconscionable phone sales tactics.
ASIC is calling for disqualification orders and penalties against property guru Sasha Hopkins, alleging he hawked real estate investment opportunities on social media that raised over $32 million without a licence.
A judge has ordered Meta to pay a $20 million penalty for misleading consumers by representing that its discontinued Onavo Protect mobile app would keep users’ personal activity data private, when in fact it was being collected for commercial use.
Dairy processor Lactalis Australia has been hit with a $950,000 penalty in the first proceedings against a company for breaches of the Dairy Code.
ASIC has brought enforcement action against Vanguard Investments Australia, accusing the investment firm of misleading claims that its ethically conscious hedge fund screened securities for their environmental, social and good governance bona fides.
The competition regulator has delayed its final decision on whether to approve ANZ’s $4.9 billion acquisition of Queensland-based Suncorp, after expressing worries the tie-up could stifle the growth of smaller banks.
Wholesale retailer Costco has paid a penalty of $33,000 to the consumer watchdog after being caught out for labelling imported lobster as locally sourced.
The proposed $1.5 billion merger of Australian Clinical Labs and Healius — two of Australia’s largest pathology services providers — is likely to substantially lessen competition, the ACCC has warned.
The ACCC has raised concerns about Coles plans to acquire milk processing plants from Saputo, with the regulator saying the transaction — marking the first time a supermarket chain has ventured into the processing market — would be a “major structural change”.