Herbert Smith Freehills this week escaped a cross-claim that its advice made it liable for the alleged losses of Arrium’s lenders, but the judge who tossed the claim along with the banks’ cases expressed doubts about one of the law firm’s key arguments, a warning to other firms caught up in litigation as so-called concurrent wrongdoers.
A judge has dismissed two cases brought by the Commonwealth Bank, Westpac and other lenders against directors of the failed steel giant Arrium, saying he was not satisfied the directors’ representations on loan drawdown notices were false or that the company was insolvent when it went into voluntary administration in April 2016.
Small business owners who turned to the Bank of Queensland for financial assistance were subject to unfair contract terms that created a “significant imbalance” in the rights of the bank and its customers, a court has held.
Administrators have lined up a buyer for a Forum Group entity, as a first creditors meeting confirms Westpac has the largest claim to any recoveries after an alleged $400 million fraud by the equipment leasing company.
The lead applicant in a Maurice Blackburn-led class action against superannuation provider Colonial First State wants the Full Court to determine whether group members still have valid claims, after a judgment from the Victoria Supreme Court shut down a similar class action last year.
With $254 million at stake, Westpac wants a court order blocking the business partner of Forum Group founder Bill Papas from leaving Australia, as Papas remains in Greece while fraud allegations swirl.
Thorn Group is the latest lender ensnared in an alleged $400 million fraud by Forum Finance, with potential funds of up to $2.2 million tied up in the collapsed equipment leasing firm.
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.
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.
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.