Dixon Advisory has agreed to pay a $7.2 million penalty after admitting to ASIC’s allegations that it failed to act in its clients’ best interests on 53 occasions.
A judge has approved a $50 million settlement in a shareholder class action against failed training company Vocation and auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers, but questioned whether the $10.9 million commission and $12.75 million legal bill could have been “materially lower” had the case been run by one funder and firm instead of two.
The former boss of defence shipbuilder Austal, who is facing penalty proceedings by ASIC, has told a court the regulator’s case was based on information that fit within a carveout to the ASX listing rules on continuous dislosure to the market.
A judge has ordered the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions to file a replacement indictment to address defects in the document at the centre of its criminal cartel case over a $2.5 billion ANZ share placement in August 2015.
A Sydney-based broker is facing a class action investigation on behalf of customers who bought binary options over a six-year period, after the Australian Securities and Investments Commission banned the risky derivatives earlier this year after finding they were likely to cause “significant detriment”.
The director of Forum Finance, which has been accused by Westpac and Societe Generale of a $263 million fraud, is in Europe and will return to Australia over the weekend, although he has refused to tell his lawyer his exact location, a court has heard.
The auditor of stockbroker Halifax Investment Services, whose 2008 collapse left around $200 million in client funds trapped, has pleaded guilty to the first criminal charges brought over auditing services in Australia.
Law firm HWL Ebsworth says it has avoided any negative financial impact from its connection with Sydney financial firm Forum Finance, which has been accused by Westpac of a $263 million fraud.
Two shareholder class actions against sandalwood producer Quintis that reached an in principle settlement over a year ago are moving forward following a protracted dispute over insurance, with the lead applicants getting approval to file proposed amended pleadings.
A judge has rejected a request that he approve a settlement with the lead applicants in a class action by investors in failed music streaming platform Guvera that would dispense with the class action without notice being sent to group members.