Maybe it’s a good thing but among the most glaring absences from the carefully-crafted commentary accompanying news of the latest raids on tax rogues were any references to liquidators. After more than 250 ATO officers and police raided 11 commercial and residential premises in Victoria on Wednesday the ATO released a statement in which it described the targets of the raids as rogue tax agents who…
It might not have been around as long as God and the Devil but for genuine enmity can any rivalry match the hellfire-eclipsing friction generated when insolvency practitioners go auditors? In this particular chapter of the eternal struggle, Ferrier Hodgson’s Peter Gothard and Jim Stewart have finally taken the tridents to Moore Stephens’ Elizabeth Perez and Jeff Matchett, auditors of Payless Shoes. We say finally because the Ferriers duo…
Robyn Erskine, who last year replaced David Iannuzzi as liquidator of North Shore Property Developments, has failed in a legal bid that would’ve given her more time to challenge a generous seeming compromise entered into by her predecessor. In Erskine v 72-74 Gordon Crescent Lane Cove Pty Ltd, in the matter of North Shore Property Developments Pty Ltd (in liq) [2018] FCA 109 we learn that Iannuzzi…
The MV Developments liquidation may go down as a textbook case of how not to avoid a finding of unreasonable conduct and how difficult it can be to wind up a property development when there are competing prospective purchasers, multiple registered security holders and a director who admits accepting casino chips as deposits. This after all is the job that drove Rodgers Reidy’s Rob Moodie…
Cor Cordis Melbourne partner Daniel Juratowitch has come in for some stick from Federal Circuit Court judge Heather Riley but given the lack of engagement by the bankrupt over an extended period, it’s hard not to sympathise. Juratowitch was appointed trustee of the bankrupt’s estate on December 13, 2016. On April 27, 2018 she applied to have the order sequestering her estate set aside. The…
dVT’s Dave Solomons and Antony Resnick have found themselves in the middle of a shareholder oppression suit which threatens to dislodge them as administrators of three entities from the CarZapp Group. The shareholders – plaintiff Domenic Ruberto and defendants Graham Meyerowitz and Mark Lasarow – fell out over a deal to sell the CarZapp auto-dealer phone app to Pickles Auctions Pty Ltd. As an aside, CarZapp’s…
Here’s an unusual situation – application has been made to wind up Gatto Corporate Solutions but the lawyer representing the petitioning creditor has no insolvency practitioner to recommend. Usually a lawyer can’t propose an experienced and licensed practitioner quick enough. After all, he or she knows that putting forward their preferred practitioner will likely to lead to work flowing back their way. But in the…
With the dissolving of the PPB Advisory (PPBA) partnership imminent, rumours are that draw downs on the PPBA partnership’s loan facility are suspended as management sets about repaying the firm’s working capital facilities to PPBA’s bank, ANZ ahead of the August 1 deadline for the completion of PwC’s acquisition approaches. Several sources who spoke to INO confirmed hearing that distributions to partners had been frozen. One…
Embattled Sydney liquidator David Iannuzzi is headed for trial after Federal Court judge Nye Perram delivered judgement this week on an application launched by the tax office for a judicial inquiry into Iannuzzi’s conduct. The tax personage wants Iannuzzi banned for 10 years and restrained from working as an insolvency practitioner for the same period. For good measure it also wants the court to order Iannuzzi…
After considerable deliberation PPB Advisory co-founder Steve Parbery has joined Ferrier Hodgson, less than two weeks ahead of the scheduled completion date of PwC’s acquisition of PPB Advisory, the firm Parbery co-founded with Max Prentice and Vince Barilla in 1983. Parbery has had carriage of some of the highest profile insolvency matters in the country, including Lehman Brothers and more recently in his capacity as Special Purpose Liquidator of Queensland…