Hall Chadwick’s Richard Lawrence. Hall Chadwick’s Richard Albarran. As iNO reported back in July, Hall Chadwick partners Richard Albarran and Richard Lawrence are determined to be paid for the work they did on the tempestuous Tauro Capital administration before creditors replaced them in October 2020. At the time iNO speculated that some creditors at least might be just as determined to deny them. We can…
PCI Partners director Philip Newman. Was it a Ponzi scheme? Or were the monies invested in the The Edge, the now notorious betting scam operated by incarcerated racing identity Bill Vlahos, held on trust? That is one of the key questions at the heart of a dispute playing out in the Federal Court between Vlahos’s trustee in bankruptcy and at least some of the scores…
Suspended trustee Peter Macks. Amos Insolvency’s Peter Amos. When a professional transgresses and regulators impose the requisite penalties it sometimes signals not so much an end to the matter as a green light for the commencement of a secondary round of censure. In this day and age professional associations have their own disciplinary procedures independent of conduct’s primary arbiters. When a member is sanctioned by…
Crouch Amirbeaggi co-founder Nick Crouch. Eight months after a disciplinary committee was convened to determine what punishment if any should be meted out to liquidator Nicholas Crouch the committee has spoken, faintly and inaudibly as it turns out. This is no draconian impost. No rack and ruin. Nor is it an example of a decision being reached in 60 days, as the legislation encourages disciplinary…
Worrells partner Jason Bettles. Editor’s Note: On Friday, August 18, 2023 Justice Brigitte Markovic of the Federal Court of Australia dismissed ASIC’s case against liquidator Jason Bettles and ordered the regulator to pay Bettles’ costs. While ASIC landed no killer blow yesterday Worrells partner Jason Bettles could not be said to have exited the Federal Court witness box unburdened by any remaining questions in respect…
PKF’s Petr Vrsecky. PKF partner Glenn Franklin. There was much hyperventilating last week after delivery of judgment in the matter of Intellicomms Pty Ltd (in liq) [2022] VSC 228 which record the first application of new laws aimed at combatting illegal phoenix activity. While it’s early days and the judgment could be overturned on appeal, few of the breathless commentators who explored this inaugural application…
EY’s Sam Freeman. EY’s Colby O’Brien. Remember the stick those administrators appointed to Pindan Group last year copped after it was revealed – by iNO – the extent of the relationships the VAs’ firm EY has with Pindan, its immediate owner Oxley Sparkle and ultimate parent, Oxley Holdings Limited? Plenty was how much and plenty of iNO readers thought that their being able to continue…
FEG Active Creditor Recovery Unit Director Henry Carr. There may be much for circulating asset aficionados to ponder in the event that the Commonwealth – through its FEG Recovery Division – commences proceedings against the former receivers of Castel Electronics Pty Ltd. iNO says if because at this point all the Commonwealth has done is obtain orders ensuring that the company cannot be deregistered by…
Cor Cordis Melbourne partner Bruno Secatore. Cor Cordis partner Neil Cussen. You have to wonder why successful, experienced practitioners accept appointments as administrators when they know there’s winding up applications afoot, other entities in the group are already in liquidation and according to their DIRRI, no indemnity in the offing. Is it evidence of a healthy appetite for risk? Or the desperation that prevails in…
iNO Opinion Questions of competency and the like have dogged the corporate regulator for some time, though from the perspective of the insolvency profession those questions have been magnified since ASIC imposed a levy on registered liquidators’ earnings that adjusts to cover losses the regulator incurs as a consequence of failed litigation. Just where the limits of such questioning lies remains undetermined but a recent…