Some of the profession’s most pressing questions will be explored and potential solutions debated at the inaugural Association of Independent Insolvency Practitioners (AIIP) Conference to be held next month in Canberra. Questions around safe harbour; pre-packs; litigation funding, law reform and what the future might have in store will all be canvassed at the Disruption in the Insolvency Industry Conference on June 28 and 29…
PwC takeover aside, PPB Advisory cannot get a break. After the alleged villainy of former partner David Leigh was uncovered in February, you’d think the firm could earn some respite from outrageous fortune’s slings and arrows. Negative. This week the firm’s two most senior Queensland partners – Grant Sparks and Michael Owen – were served with a multi-million dollar claim for damages in relation to their…
Veritas Advisory might find itself in need of a replacement trustee now that the first AFSA disciplinary committee convened under the new Insolvency Practice rules prepares to determine whether incumbent Louise Thomson should incur any penalty. According to the AFSA website, Thomson was referred under Part 2 of Schedule 2 to the Bankruptcy Act (the Act) after the Inspector-General formed the belief that: “Thomson has failed…
The year is done, Christmas is come and for SiN it is time to replenish the reservoir of curiosity ahead of what promises to be a fascinating 2018. From next year the Insolvency Law Reform Act (ILRA) will be in full swing. Insolvency practitioners will face a world where creditors will have expanded powers. Appointees will need to get used to being replaced. Courts too…
Pitcher Partners’ Andrew Yeo has lost an enterprising bid to have a deed of settlement involving architect to the affluent Nicholas Day set aside as a voidable transaction after a voluminous ruling by Victorian Supreme Court judge Melanie Sloss. Day’s work is regularly snapped up by Melbourne’s wealthiest but according to Shot One Pty Ltd (in liq.) & Anor v Day & Anor [2017] VSC 741 (7…
SiN hears Nick Combis and his former colleague at Vincents Peter Dinoris might be on the verge of a settlement with Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, which has been pressing for a judicial inquiry into their conduct as Trustees of the personal insolvency agreements (PIA) proffered by Bartercard co-founder and multi-millionaire Brian Hall. The Trustees’ statement of contentions shows that irrespective of what the bank thinks of how they…
While Bartercard co-founder and millionaire Brian Hall has seemingly extracted himself from a stoush with Bendigo Adelaide Bank, that has only intensified the pressure on Vincent’s Nick Combis and his former colleague Peter Dinoris, who now runs his own outfit, Artemis Insolvency out of offices in Edward Street, Brisbane. The pair were the trustees of a $350,000 personal insolvency agreement (PIA) Hall had entered into in…
A report about two elderly Australians losing their house after spending more than $100,000 on advice from a company accused of operating a multi-million dollar tax evasion scheme highlights the risks inherent in the practice of referral. Queensland fruit and vegetable peddlers Tony and Doris Di Blasio operated the Crisp on Creek fruit and veg business in Mount Gravatt in Queensland but ran into trouble meeting…
Ex-bankrupt Robert Coshott and his wife Ljiljana Coshott have failed in their attempts to challenge fees and remuneration payable to Nick Crouch and Shabnam Amirbeaggi, who were appointed trustees for the sale of a Bellevue Hill property held jointly by Mrs Coshott and her husband’s former trustee in bankruptcy, Max Prentice. Rubbing salt into the failure, the three judges of the Federal Court of Appeal ordered that…
Stigma shmigma. Who said bankruptcy permanently stained a person with the irredeemable taint of debtor’s shame? SiN has come across a practitioner whose experience more than validates the redemptive power of personal insolvency. Last week Jirsch Sutherland announced that business director Rebecca Hindson had been appointed manager of the firm’s new Wollongong office. In a press release dated August 16 we learn that Hindson – an Illawarra local –…