A committal hearing in the ANZ cartel case may run a further nine days next year due to ongoing arguments about subpoenas and privilege, which have derailed five planned days of cross-examination of key witnesses and led a Local Court Magistrate to proclaim she was “awful close” to ending her life.
A judge has shot down a bid by class action applicants to block 7-Eleven from seeking litigation releases from franchisees on contract renewal, saying there was no evidence the convenience store giant had acted unlawfully.
The banks and executives facing criminal charges over alleged cartel conduct related to ANZ’s $2.5 billion share placement in 2015 will fight to widen their cross-examination of key ACCC witnesses after new information was brought to light in late submissions by the regulator.
A key witness from JPMorgan previously contested claims by the ACCC that a key component of an alleged cartel arrangement between four major banks around a $2.5 billion institutional share placement by ANZ was actually an ‘agreement,’ as opposed to a series of independent decisions, a court has heard.
A judge has given the green light to a $1.5 million settlement in a long-running class action against ANZ alleging it slapped customers with illegal fees, with group members expected to get no more than $100 and potentially walking away with “substantially less” than this.
Two key witnesses from JPMorgan have been grilled by lawyers for three major investments banks named in a high-stakes criminal cartel case as the banks seek to cast doubt on how the ACCC gathered evidence during its almost two-year cartel investigation.
Slater and Gordon is planning class actions against ANZ and Westpac over allegedly worthless insurance, fresh off of winning a $49.5 million settlement in a junk insurance class action against the National Australia Bank.
The banks and executives at the centre of a landmark criminal cartel case can question four ACCC investigators and witnesses from JP Morgan at an upcoming committal hearing, with a magistrate saying Friday there were “substantial reasons in the interests of justice” to allow the cross-examination.
ANZ has rejected allegations by the financial regulator that $35 million in fees charged to customers for periodical payments between accounts was unlawful, saying the regulator’s case extended the scope of false and misleading representation claims.
An investigation by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has come under fire by the banks and directors targeted in a criminal case over alleged cartel conduct that claim the regulator “contaminated” key evidence and improperly used material supplied by ASIC.