ASIC

A judge has expressed concern about the Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s suspicion that a former director of Keystone Asset Management may have used investor funds to purchase a house in his wife’s name, calling it “alarming”.

A court has found iSignthis and its former CEO Nickolas John Karantzis breached the Corporations Act in disclosures to the stock market about one-off revenue and the termination of the fintech’s business arrangement with Visa.

ASIC has secured freezing orders over the assets of an investment fund managed by Keystone Asset Management, with a court also ordering a Keystone director to surrender his passport amid an investigation by the corporate regulator. 

ASIC has wasted no time in appealing a judge’s decision to excuse cryptocurrency product provider Block Earner from paying a civil penalty on the basis that it took advice from a leading law firm that was not seen by the court. 

Trial in ASIC’s action accusing former Dixon Advisory director Paul Ryan of breaching his duties began Monday, a case that puts the spotlight on legal advice over a deed that affected the wealth management firm’s capacity to recoup a $19 million debt on the eve of its collapse.

A director of two Paladin Group units is entitled to rely on the privilege against self-exposure to penalty in defending a case brought by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, a court has heard.

Payday lenders Cigno and BSF Solutions have appealed a decision that found they provided credit without a licence, and rejected the claim that their loan model is analogous to buy now, pay later arrangements that don’t require a licence.

The High Court will not hear mining magnate Clive Palmer’s challenge to a court’s finding that lawsuits he brought challenging two criminal cases against him over a takeover bid and alleged payments to his political party were an abuse of process and should be stayed.

The corporate regulator is on a winning streak in its greenwashing cases, with a judge rejecting Active Super’s attempt to qualify its “unequivocal” statements about limiting its investment in companies connected to gambling and coal mining.

Litigation hobbyist Clive Palmer has filed proceedings against former Australian Securities and Investments Commission chair James Shipton, alleging he acted in bad faith and beyond his power in the regulator’s pursuit of claims against him.