The High Court of Australia has resolved a nearly 40-year old question of whether employees of a failed company established as trustee of a trading trust have priority over ordinary unsecured creditors.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has narrowly lost its High Court appeal of a ruling that found the owner of a South Australian outback general store had not acted unconscionably by selling used cars through a “book-up” system.
The High Court has granted ASIC special leave to appeal a judgment that let a former director of Gold Coast finance company MFS Group partially off the hook for $147.5 million in misappropriated funds, after ASIC argued the High Court should intervene to clarify the scope of the word “officer” under the Corporations Act.
The High Court has upheld an appeal by a mortgage broker with a history of run-ins with the law, finding that the Administrative Appeals Tribunal could not take spent convictions into account when reviewing ASIC ban orders.
The Australian Securities & Investments Commission has largely prevailed on appeal to the High Court in its case against former directors of collapsed retirement village owner Prime Trust, including former federal health minister Michael Wooldridge.