A former financial planner of IOOF unit RI Advice, who has been accused by ASIC of pocketing hefty commissions from clients steered to risky investments, has abandoned his defence on the second day of trial.
A financial adviser at the centre of ASIC’s bad advice case against an IOOF unit might mount an argument that a fair trial is not possible because of his “fulsome” answers to investigators during a compulsory examination.
ASIC’s warning about the futility of mediation with an IOOF subsidiary has proved prophetic, with talks last week failing to resolve the regulator’s case ahead of trial starting Monday.
A Federal Court judge overseeing two franchisee class actions against 7-Eleven has heard a landmark application for pre-trial oral discovery that could create another tool for lawyers to source evidence otherwise blocked by confidentiality agreements.
A judge has ordered ASIC to enter mediation before heading into a “very expensive” trial with an IOOF subsidiary accused of giving shonky advice, over objections from the regulator that mediation would be “completely futile”.
The ATO has refused to sign an undertaking that it won’t prosecute PricewaterhouseCoopers for tax crimes if it hands over thousands of documents at the centre of a legal professional privilege fight.
Meat processor JBS Australia has appointed new legal representation in a battle with the Australian Taxation Office over the scope of privilege attached to thousands of documents produced by its tax adviser, PricewaterhouseCoopers, after a judge raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest in PwC’s representation of its client.
A judge has ordered Carlton United Breweries, maker of iconic Australian beers Victoria Bitter and Carlton Draught, to hand over information to the Commissioner of Taxation relating to an audit of the beer giant.
The Full Federal Court has granted a limited appeal in the Kingdom of Spain’s challenge to a judgment enforcing a $375 million arbitration award over two renewable energy investments, ordering a redrafting of the primary judge’s orders but rejecting claims that Spain was immune as a foreign state from enforcement of the award.
The Commissioner of Taxation has failed in his bid to dismiss a lawsuit brought by a bankrupt migration lawyer who fled to Romania and owes $4.7 million in taxes, but has managed to strike out some claims a judge found had “no reasonable prospect of success”.