ASIC has lost a case accusing the Commonwealth Bank of Australia of hitting customers with $55 million in unauthorised fees, with a judge finding that nearly 1 million customers charged the fees should have known that even banks “sometimes make mistakes”.
Payday lenders BHF Solutions and Cigno are fighting ASIC’s bid for an injunction barring them from breaching consumer credit laws, with BHF claiming it should not be exposed to contempt.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has placed interim stop orders on two crypto funds distributed by Perpetual Investment Management Limited, citing the need to protect retail clients from investing in risky, volatile funds.
Fintech company Block Earner has been hit with enforcement action by the corporate regulator alleging it sold crypto asset products without a licence and operated an unregistered managed investment scheme.
ASIC is seeking $7.5 million in penalties against failed ACBF Funeral Plans and parent company Youpla Group for misrepresenting to customers that it was Indigenous-owned and falsely claiming that its products were specifically beneficial to First Nations people.
The High Court has turned down the appeal of the former Blue Star Helium CEO who was hit with a $40,000 penalty and four-year ban after the company failed to disclose to shareholders the identity of the buyer behind a botched sale of Texas oil assets.
A former Tesla Motors Australia director has pleaded guilty to two counts of insider trading for acquiring shares in Piedmont Lithium based on insider information he had about an in-principle agreement the mining company had to supply lithium to Tesla.
Former CEO of failed van Eyk Research has been sentenced to 15 months’ imprisonment after admitting he breached his duties as director of a subsidiary to dishonestly retain control of the company.
A judge has thrown out proceedings brought by mining magnate Clive Palmer in which he alleged an abuse of process by prosecutors and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, finding that Palmer’s suits were themselves a “misuse of proceedings.”
The former director of investment management fund Courtenay House has pleaded guilty to five criminal charges after an ASIC investigation revealed he duped 585 investors in a $180 million Ponzi scheme.