Criminal charges have been laid against the auditor of stockbroker Halifax Investment Services, whose 2008 collapse left around $200 million in client funds trapped, in the first criminal charges brought over auditing services in Australia.
Members Equity Bank has been hit with criminal charges for allegedly making false or misleading representations and violating the National Credit Code.
A former executive of hospital operator Healthe Care Pty has pleaded guilty to one charge of insider trading for acquiring a large number of shares in Pulse Health while in possession of inside information about the private hospital operator.
The former chief financial officer of delisted Traditional Therapy Clinics has been sentenced to one year and ten months in prison after pleading guilty to market manipulation charges relating to transactions intended to create an artificial share price for the traditional therapy clinic company.
Westpac has been accused by the corporate regulator of insider trading before the $16 billion privatisation of electricity provider Ausgrid.
The liquidators of Forge Group have won court approval to expand their insider trading case against construction company Clough over the $187 million sale of its stake in the failed engineering and construction firm.
The judge who vowed last year to move a criminal cartel case over a $2.5 billion ANZ share placement to trial “before we all retire” will soon weigh the ACCC’s claim for privilege over statements from JPMorgan witnesses it has been accused of pressuring during its investigation, two months after a different judge heard a still unresolved privilege fight in the long-running case.
Fairfax has settled long-running defamation proceedings brought by former Leighton Holdings CFO Peter Gregg over 11 articles that accused him of corruption, after he won an appeal last year overturning his conviction on related criminal charges.
The prosecution in a criminal cartel case against several banks and high-ranking executives over a $2.5 billion ANZ share placement has fought back against accusations that its indictment is “fundamentally flawed” and should be quashed.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission will seek to drop all charges which were the subject of an arrest warrant against accused fraudster Melissa Caddick, after her remains were found on the NSW South Coast in February.