Former financial adviser Graeme Miller has been jailed for six years after pleading guilty to misappropriating $1.865 million in client funds in what a judge described as a “cruel and deceitful betrayal”.
A judge has handed ASIC a “narrow” win in its action against former Tennis Australia director Harold Mitchell, tossing most of the regulator’s case and accusing it of “confirmatory bias”.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission told the government’s class action inquiry that it was committed to making the existing class action regime work with upcoming regulations that will spell the end of its “light touch” approach to litigation funders.
A court has granted ASIC’s bid to wind up an illegal managed investment scheme whose operators fled to India following the “systematic misappropriation” of almost $7 million in investor funds.
Former Bellamy’s Australia director Jan Cameron has pleaded not gulty to two charges stemming from an alleged failure to disclose her stake in the organic baby food company.
Federal police have charged 12 members of an alleged sophisticated criminal syndicate, including construction industry figure George Alex, which authorities say enlisted the help of financial industry experts and former bankers to pull off a $17 million fraud.
Commonwealth Bank’s wealth management unit Colonial First State has admitted misleading conduct in certain calls to superannuation members, but has otherwise denied claims by the corporate watchdog that it misled over 12,000 fund members during the transition to MySuper accounts.
ASIC has dropped its fight with Westpac over the bank’s financial assessment of home loan borrowers following political pressure, citing the “challenging economic circumstances”.
ASIC has called for a $15 million penalty against National Australia Bank over its scandal-ridden ‘Introducer’ loan referral program, but a judge has questioned the “superficial” investigations in the case and remarked on the corporate regulator’s “pattern” of bringing enforcement action after remediation programs were well underway.
Australia’s corporate watchdog has lost its bid to obtain Ashurst’s advice to Australia and New Zealand Banking Group about potentially illegal bank fees “for now”, but a judge has signalled that this may not be the end of the matter.