Regulators

A judge overseeing a superannuation class action against two Westpac units that settled for $30 million has expressed concerns about the ATO’s potential involvement in distributing settlement funds, saying the department was unlikely to efficiently reunite group members with their money. 

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has won its case against four Linchpin Capital directors after a judge found they duped their clients into lining the directors’ pockets and benefitting the parent company.

Dominique Grubisa has denied the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s allegation that she misled consumers about her wealth management courses, arguing the claims that owners could sell their homes but retain equity were “substantially true”.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has brought its first-ever case concerning unfair insurance contract terms, targeting Auto & General Insurance Company’s standard form home and contents insurance agreement.

Prosecutors have dropped its fraud case against the former chief financial officer of a unit of collapsed Gold Coast finance company Octaviar Investments, citing his poor health.

Eleven current and former Star Entertainment executives have refuted ASIC’s claims that they breached their duties in relation to the casino operator’s lax money laundering compliance, with all but two denying they had a duty to ensure the company complied with its legal obligations.

Westpac has hit back at a bid by ASIC to add an allegation to the regulator’s insider trading case that hinges on the bank providing financial services when it traded on the morning of a $16 billion deal to privatise electricity provider Ausgrid.

Australia’s largest private health insurer Medibank has been hit with a shareholder class action in the wake of a massive cyberattack that left the data of 10 million customers exposed.

The corporate watchdog has commenced a probe into ASX’s handling of the CHESS replacement program, including in relation to possible continuous disclosure breaches and misleading or deceptive conduct.

Beauty giant McPherson’s has denied ASIC’s claims that it misled the market and breached its disclosure obligations in 2020, arguing that a document showing sales of its Dr LeWinn’s line were down by $21 million was a draft that couldn’t have been used to revise a financial forecast.