Accounting firms EY and Pitcher Partners ignored âfront page newsâ that Slater & Gordonâs acquired business Quindell was scrutinised by a UK regulator after reporting a $250 million (ÂŁ137 million) loss, a court heard on the second day of trial in a class action by the law firmâs shareholders.
Accounting firm Pitcher Partners gave faulty advice ahead of Slater & Gordon’s disastrous $1.2 billion Quindell acquisition that was responsible for $800 million in the businessâ value âdisappearingâ within six months, a court heard on the first day of trial in a long-running class action by the law firm’s shareholders.
Two class actions against Pitcher Partners and Arnold Bloch Leibler over advice given ahead of Slater & Gordon’s disastrous $1.2 billion Quindell acquisition will proceed to trial next month after mediation between the parties failed to resolve the cases.
The ATO is challenging a judge’s decision to allow oil giant Shell Australia $2.2 billion in deductions for the cost of certain exploration activities conducted under an acquisition that increased its stake in Woodside Energy’s Browse Basin gas exploration joint venture project.
The High Court has denied the ATO’s request that it weigh in on Australia’s transfer pricing regime, leaving in place a Full Court victory for mining giant Glencore that left it paying $2 million of a $92 million bill relating to the sale of copper from a mine in Cobar, NSW.
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.
Fossil fuel giant Shell Australia has partially won a challenge to a tax office decision denying deductions claimed over an acquisition the increased the company’s stake in Woodside Energy’s Browse Basin gas exploration joint venture project.
Westpac will recoup the majority of proceeds from the $29.6 million sale of collapsed fintech Sargon Group, with a judge calling the company’s liquidators “anxious sellers” who sold at speed and well below market value.
The judge overseeing two class actions over legal and accounting advice given ahead of Slater & Gordon’s disastrous Quindell acquisition has said he will hear the cases together, citing the “dangers” of the approach taken in litigation against GetSwift, which resulted in a judge being ordered to step down.
A judge has found the lead applicant and funder in a discontinued class action against Pitcher Partners over its auditing of Slater & Gordon must pay the bill for the flurry of cross-claims brought in the proceeding, but has rejecting the accounting firm’s argument that its costs should be paid on an indemnity basis.