Hall Chadwick’s Richard Lawrence. Hall Chadwick’s Richard Albarran. Hall Chadwick’s pair of Richards look set for a disagreeable time chasing upwards of three quarters of a million in fees after being ousted as voluntary administrators (VAs) of Bluechain Pty Ltd. Messrs Albarran and Lawrence were turfed out by an overwhelming majority of creditors at the reconvened first meeting of Bluechain back on May 18, 20…
Philip Damien Whiteman. Photo courtesy ABC News. It’s been some time coming but accused tax fraud mastermind Philip Damien Whiteman this week finally had a day in court in relation to allegations of illegal “phoenix” activity. On Monday the 62 year old “pre-insolvency service provider” from Port Melbourne was charged in the County Court of Victoria with nine offences of dishonestly causing a loss to…
Smith Hancock partner Mike Smith. Smith Hancock partner Rommel Alfonso. A proposal that would’ve seen liquidators Mike Smith and Erwin “Rommel” Alfonso paid $85,275.07 in satisfaction of exisiting and future remuneration claims and costs has been crushed after a judge refused to terminate a winding up despite the applicant’s offer to discharge the company’s debts. As is evident In the matter of Kele Group Holdings…
Pitcher Partners’ Andrew Yeo. Pitcher Partners’ Gess Rambaldi. Liquidators contemplating public examinations may benefit from an account of the tortured progress being made by Andrew Yeo and Gess Rambaldi as they try to examine Ms Sherife Roseanna Ymer, the ex-wife of alleged fraud and phoenix mastermind Philip Whitman. It’s almost three years since the Pitcher Partners’ pair obtained summonses requiring Ymer to attend for examination…
Hall Chadwick’s Richard Albarran. Richard Albarran and David Ross have had quite a win in the NSW Supreme Court, with a judge ruling $2 million paid to the Commissioner of Taxation (ATO) by Western Port Holdings (WPH) whilst it was subject to a deed of company arrangement (DoCA) should be handed back. But will the decision prevail if an appeal is heard? The court’s ruling,…
Cor Cordis Melbourne partner Bruno Secatore. Deloitte Restructuring Consultant Simon Wallace-Smith. Eventful on multiple levels best describes yesterday’s public examination (PE) of former Deloitte partner and now consultant Simon Wallace-Smith, who was being questioned about his former tenure as liquidator of Last Lap Pty Ltd by counsel for the current incumbent. To start with, there were problems with all the parties being on the same…
Brooke Bird’s Robyn Erskine. The temperature in Federal Court 19B went from too hot to too cold between last Friday and Monday this week but for the examinees summonsed to appear by liquidator Robyn Erskine, the chill did little to improve their recall. Central to the Brooke Bird principal’s investigation into North Shore Property Developments Pty Ltd are events that go back to 2014 but…
Brooke Bird’s Robyn Erskine. There were testy exchanges in Federal Court room 19B yesterday, and it wasn’t just the examinees being put to question by counsel for Brooke Bird’s Robyn Erskine who were getting hot under the collar as the air conditioning failed. More than once barrister Scott Aspinall remarked about the oppressive atmosphere in the court where he has been grilling individuals associated with…
Struck-off liquidator David Iannuzzi. Former Veritas Advisory director Steve Naidenov. The public examination conducted by Brooke Bird’s Robyn Erskine over the last month has been instructive on multiple levels. For a start, it’s put ex-liquidator David Iannuzzi in the witness box for the second time in as many months. That’s an ordeal Iannuzzi might have thought he’d avoided when in November last year Federal Court…
Jirsch Sutherland’s new recruit, Paul Pattison. Jirsch Sutherland may have lost a veteran partner with the departure next March of Sule Arnautovic but it’s recently gained a national business development manager, and if the firm wanted someone who can relate to business owners going through the wringer then who better than ex-liquidator and ex-trustee in bankruptcy Paul Pattison? About a decade ago, Victoria-based Pattison went…