The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has refused to provide sought-after documents to the lead applicants of a joint class action against it until AUSTRAC grants permission, citing concerns over possible criminal breaches if it hands over the material without the agency’s approval.
A judge has appointed special purpose liquidators to investigate the affairs of failed VET provider Phoenix Institute and its directors after the Commonwealth complained of “a difficult working relationship” with the training company’s current liquidators.
The ACCC is challenging a ruling that dismissed the watchdog’s claim that property investment company Quantum Housing Group engaged in unconscionable conduct in misleading investors in the National Rental Affordability Scheme, saying the legal test for finding unconsionability under the consumer law needed clarifying.
Freedom Furniture has paid penalties of $25,200 after being hit with two infringement notices by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission for allegedly misleading customers about their consumer guarantee rights.
A court has appointed provisional liquidators to the IPO Wealth Group, rejecting claims by the firm’s sole director that the move would severely damage his reputation and that of the wider Mayfair group.
Supermarket giant Woolworths has been hit with a $1 million infringement notice from the Australian Communications and Media Authority for what the regulator called “significant breaches” of spam laws.
An Australian arm of French banking powerhouse Société Générale has pleaded guilty to client money offences, after it reported to the Australian Securities and Investment Commission that it had deposited client money into unauthorised bank accounts.
The embattled founder of Mayfair 101 investment group has denied allegations that its $80 million IPO Wealth fund is a failed Ponzi scheme as he fights the appointment of a provisional liquidator to the fund.
Gloria Jeans’ owner Retail Food Group has avoided enforcement action by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission after an investigation sparked by last year’s damning parliamentary report into the franchise sector.
Already facing action by the corporate regulator for alleged misleading and deceptive conduct and a potential class action, investment firm Mayfair 101 must now defend a lawsuit by former Liberal senator Julian McGauran, who is demanding the return of his $1 million investment.