UK-based Woodsford Litigation Funding has become the first overseas funder authorised to finance Australian class actions under recent laws cracking down on the litigation funding industry.
A Herbert Smith Freehills lawyer and former Deutsche Bank general counsel who previously led ASIC’s litigation and enforcement team has been appointed to replace the corporate regulator’s outgoing chair James Shipton.
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia is resisting a novel proposal by ASIC to use its CommBank app to notify 6.3 million customers of a $7 million fine against it for overcharging interest, saying the move would pose a “significant risk” to the public.
The trustee of Mayfair Group’s collapsed IPO Wealth Fund has denied claims in a class action that it misled investors who lost $86 million when the fund was wound up, and says it is fully indemnified for the class action’s claims under an agreement with the fund.
An ASIC review has found that 17 per cent of clients of IOOF unit RI Advice may have been exposed to harm, one month after a judge found that one of its former advisors violated the law by steering investors towards risky investments.
Two months after the remains of accused fraudster Melissa Caddick were discovered on a NSW beach, ASIC is seeking to appoint final receivers to realise her assets, although the family and friends who invested tens of millions with the Sydney businesswoman are not expected to fully recoup their investments.
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.
The publisher of the Australian Financial Review has settled a defamation lawsuit by iSignthis CEO John Karantzis over an article by Rear Window columnist Joe Aston that allegedly falsely linked him to a money laundering scheme.
A Perth director of six companies that were wound up owing $100 million to creditors has dropped a challenge to his disqualification by ASIC, after unsuccessfully arguing before the Full Court that an email from the corporate regulator forwarded by his lawyer did not constitute proper service.
The founder of beleaguered investment group Mayfair 101, James Mawhinney, has been slapped with an order banning him from soliciting funds or promoting any financial product for 20 years.