The founder of beleaguered investment group Mayfair 101, James Mawhinney, has argued that multiple law firms failed to advise him of the privilege against self-exposure to penalty in proceedings brought by the corporate regulator, which saw him banned from soliciting funds or promoting any financial product for 20 years.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has made cracking down on greenwashing one of its top enforcement priorities, as environmental, social and governance proposals by activist shareholders hit record levels.
A judge has raised concerns that AMP Financial Planning has not compensated customers for allegedly failing to prevent life insurance churning, directing the firm to explain the “vanishingly small” number of people who have been remediated.
AMP has admitted ASIC’s allegations that it acted unconscionably in charging life insurance premiums and advice fees to deceased customers, but the wealth manager will go head to head with the regulator over how much it should pay for its contraventions.
The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group has hit back at ASIC proceedings alleging it saddled hundreds of thousands of customers with cash advance fees after providing them with incorrect account balances, saying its customers were “expressly on notice” the fees would be charged.
Australian Mines has agreed to pay a $450,000 penalty to settle proceedings brought by ASIC after its managing director was allegedly caught lying at an investment conference about the value of an offtake agreement and funding for a project at its cobalt and nickel mine in Queensland.
The Full Federal Court has dismissed former Blue Star Helium CEO James Cruickshank’s challenge to a $40,000 penalty and four-year ban for failing to disclose to shareholders the identity of the buyer behind a botched sale of Texas oil assets.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission will not seek to enforce a $7.2 million penalty agreed to by Dixon Advisory after admitting to the regulator’s allegations that it failed to act in its clients’ best interests.
The lead auditor for Big Un’s flawed 2017 independent audit, which overstated the failed video company’s cash and cash equivalents by $8.2 million, has been convicted of failing to comply with auditing standards following an investigation by ASIC.
The corporate regulator will challenge a bid by payday lenders Cigno and BHF to stay its case pending their appeal to the High Court.