ASIC

Ex-VA back as liquidator after incumbent ousted

DW Advisory’s Paul Weston. Worrells partner Simon Cathro. Paul Weston has been appointed liquidator of South Pelagic Holdings Pty Ltd at a meeting convened at the behest of creditors seeking to punt Worrells’ Simon Cathro, whom a court had in February appointed to replace the company’s then administrator, Weston. Independence breach you shrill? No. Not a bit of it. At least not according to Weston…


Liquidator faked memoranda to fool ASIC

Macks Advisory’s Peter Macks. South Australian liquidator Peter Macks faked documents in an attempt to foil an ASIC investigation, a court has found. In Australian Securities and Investments Commission v Peter Ivan Macks (No.4) [2020] SASC 209 South Australian Supreme Court judge Sam Doyle said Macks had acted dishonestly and for the purpose of deceiving ASIC in respect of a memoranda Macks provided to the…


Worrells partner wins round one in ASIC phoenix fight

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. ASIC has suffered a humiliating setback in its bid to have the liquidator’s registration of Jason Bettles cancelled, with the Federal Court on Wednesday ordering the regulator to reformulate its…


Could $850,000 lighten ASIC metrics burden?

ASIC’s top liquidator cop Thea Eszenyi. There’s nothing like internal ructions inside a big organisation – think chairpersons paid way too much to move from Hong Kong – to loosen a few lips so when ASIC’s chief liquidator cop Thea Eszenyi referred to $850,000 in costs the regulator had recovered from chastened liquidators who she declined to name it wasn’t hard for iNO to establish…


Conversion Therapy: who’s VA’d and DoCA’d in FY 2020

Sivaa Consulting’s latest number crunching exercise landed on iNO’s desk this week and its focus on FY 2020 VA to DoCA conversion rates is well timed. The insolvency profession is breathlessly awaiting details in respect of the brave new restructuring regime being proposed by the Federal Government. It’s a regime which is itself a response to the economic value destruction wrought by governments state and…


Ex-liquidator summonsed in Project Cargo tax probe

Ex-liquidator David Iannuzzi. Veritas Advisory’s David Iannuzzi may have avoided a grilling last year when he consented to orders banning him from practising as a liquidator for a decade but that won’t prevent him appearing next week in public examinations being conducted by the liquidators of RC Group (Aust) Limited (RC Group) as part of the ATO’s Project Cargo inquiry into alleged tax evasion. Iannuzzi…


KordaMentha duo face inquiry bid over Seafolly

KordaMentha’s Scott Langdon. KordaMentha’s Rahul Goyal. KordaMentha’s Rahul Goyal and Scott Langdon may be forced to defend elements of their handling of the Seafolly administration and possibly delay paying a first dividend after five Chinese corporate creditors of the COVID-crippled swimwear outfit yesterday applied for an injunction in the NSW Supreme Court. Lawyers representing the Seafolly Five appeared before Justice Ashley Black ex-parte seeking to…


ASIC reshuffle loads up Eszenyi with auditors

ASIC’s top liquidator cop Thea Eszenyi now policing auditors too. Some iNO readers will be aware that there’s been a great of shuffling of senior roles over at the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) of late, and while most of what little media attention there has been has focussed on the implications for ASIC’s most senior regulators, Thea Eszenyi, who is responsible the regulation…


Weston V Cathro over 2nd bite of South Pelagic

DW Advisory’s Paul Weston. Worrells partner Simon Cathro. DW Advisory’s Paul Weston is demonstrating an optimistic streak of generous width, putting his hand up to replace the man who replaced him little more six months ago. Weston, who did not respond to inquiries prior to iNO’s deadline, has been given the chance to takeover as liquidator of South Pelagic Holdings Pty Ltd. That opportunity has…


ASIC pursues beef with KPMG pair over GD Pork

KPMG’s Martin Jones. KPMG’s Andrew Smith. There’s an intriguing stoush simmering away in Fortress West Australia where the corporate regulator has urgently intervened in an application by two KPMG restructuring partners in respect of remuneration.  The fun began on February 1, 2019 when then Ferrier Hodgson Perth partner and liquidator Martin Jones filed an originating process and supporting documentation with the West Australian Supreme Court. …