Lawyer Alex Elliott can’t refuse to hand over evidence in the Banksia class action on the grounds of privilege against self incrimination or exposure to penalty because he waived privilege when he produced the documents to lawyers for his late father’s funder, a court has been told.
In a win for ASIC, a judge has found that former oil and gas company Antares Energy violated its continuous disclosure obligations by failing to reveal the name of the buyer behind an ill-fated US$254 million acquisition of Texan oil assets.
Professional services firm EY UK has been added as a respondent in a shareholder class action against Pitcher Partners over advice given to law firm Slater and Gordon in its disastrous $1.3 billion acquisition of the UK-based Quindell in 2015, almost two years after the class action was filed.
ASIC and the applicant in a class action against GetSwift have intervened in an application by the logistics provider to relocate its headquarters to Canada, aiming to ensure shareholders are aware of the potential outcomes of the regulator’s enforcement action, which include banning orders against directors Bane Hunter and Joel Macdonald.
Lawyer Alex Elliott, the son of the mastermind behind an alleged fraudulent scheme by certain members of the legal team in the Banksia class action, has resisted handing over evidence in the case against him, invoking the right to silence in the face of possible criminal charges.
The cost consultant joined as a defendant in the trial over alleged misconduct by the Banksia class action legal team has died, the second person implicated in the fee scandal to die this year.
Pitcher Partners says the lead applicant in a discontinued class action over its auditing of Slater and Gordon should cover the costs for cross-claims it brought against nine parties, including the law firm and several of its former directors.
Lawyer Alex Elliott was complicit in a plan by his late father to mislead the court and group members in the Banksia class action, to conceal conflicts of interest and to profit from the case at the expense of debenture holders, a judge has been told.
The Murray Goulburn class action run by Elliott Legal bears similarities to the Banksia class action, a case rife with scandal and offered up by opponents as proof of the problems with the class action regime. The leading lawyers were the same in both cases. In one they have abandoned any claim to their fees and have walked away from their careers. In the other they walked away with $5 million.
An appeals court has dismissed a second bid by lawyer Alex Elliott to have the judge overseeing the Banksia class action disqualified from hearing claims that he, like his late father, was party to an alleged fraudulent scheme in running the litigation.