Conduct

FOGO liquidator experiencing FOBBO

Chifley Advisory’s Gavin Moss Chifley Advisory’s Gavin Moss is grappling with a bout of FOBBO (Fear of being booted out) after his appointor commenced proceedings to have him removed. Moss and former Chifley colleague Henry Kwok (now at Pathway Insolvency and Advisory) were appointed voluntary administrators (VAs) of FOGO Brazilia Franchise Holdings (FBFH) in early 2018 by director and Rebel Sports co-founder Ian Dresner. The…


KPMG partner’s insistence “disappointing”: QNI Judge

KPMG’s Peter Gothard. Whilst the real pain of Wednesday’s judgment in Parbery & Ors v QNI Metals Pty Ltd & Ors [2020] QSC 143 will be felt by QNI’s general purpose liquidators (GPL) FTI Holdings, Queensland Supreme Court judge Debra Mullins didn’t pull any punches when it came to a couple of elements of the testimony of KPMG partner Peter Gothard. Gothard had been brought…


Cor Cordis boss to pay Last Lap costs personally

Cor Cordis Melbourne partner Bruno Secatore. The 28 plus year long liquidation of Last Lap Pty Ltd makes one wonder just how many insolvency practitioners will get to take a lap around this seemingly eternal liquidation, but for the moment we’ll focus on the incumbent, Bruno Secatore. Last week the Federal Court handed down its decision in Secatore, in the matter of Last Lap Pty…


ARITA subpoenaed as Cor Cordis duo biff with insurer

Cor Cordis NSW partner Ozem Kassem. Image courtesy Cor Cordis. It’s probably not every day the chief professional body for registered liquidators and bankruptcy trustees cops a subpoena but it happened recently in regard to former member and Cor Cordis partner Ozem Kassem. Kassem was expelled from Australian Restructuring Insolvency and Turnaround Association (ARITA) in April 2018 for refusing to engage an independent assessor to…


Liquidators fined twice for same independence breach

dVT’s Suelen McCallum. dVT’s Riad Tayeh dVT duo Suelen McCallum and Riad Tayeh haven’t had the best of starts to the year of the sneezing pangolin with the Disciplinary Tribunal of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CAANZ) dishing out fines and a professional censure in respect of a breach of the accounting profession’s byzantine APES code. As well as being slugged $8,500 each for…


Liquidator to appeal personal costs order

Liquidator Schon Condon. Unreasonable and adversarial are terms no liquidator wants used to characterise their conduct and iNO’s mail is that Parramatta-based practitioner Schon Condon will appeal a judgment that’s branded him as both and labelled him a recidivist into the bargain.  In the matter of Azmac Pty Limited (in liquidation) (No 2) [2020] NSWSC 363 NSW Supreme Court judge Kelly Rees last week ordered…


Judge dismisses bid for leave to sue liquidators

dVT’s Riad Tayeh dVT’s Antony de Vries There’s a line in the television series Mad Men where Roger Sterling of fictional advertising agency Sterling Cooper says: “advertising’s a great business, except for the clients”. Some Liquidators might feel that sentiment could equally apply to the business of insolvency, except “clients” – at least in the case of dVT founders Anton de Vries and Riad Tayeh…


SPL gunning for dVT duo

Approved and funded to pursue: SPL Giles Woodgate. Sydney liquidator Giles Woodgate has won backing to pursue dVT Consulting duo Suelen McCallum and Riad Tayeh for possible breach of contract or negligence. In the matter of ACN 152 546 453 Pty Ltd (Formerly Hemisphere Technologies Pty Ltd (In Liq)) [2020] NSWSC 270 NSW Supreme court judge Arthur Emmett this week agreed to extend Woodgate’s powers…


Liquidator to pay NRL costs as summonses set aside

Anequity principal Andrew Needham. Sydney liquidator Andrew Needham may be ruing the day he consented to act as liquidator of a company with potential claims against the National Rugby League (NRL) in the wake of judgment In the matter of Newheadspace Pty Limited (in liq) [2020] NSWSC 173. On Wednesday NSW Supreme Court judge Kelly Rees ordered that examination summonses issued to NRL chief executive…


Pre-insolvency advisor sentenced to 5 years

Pre-insolvency advisor Stephen Mark O’Neill. Image courtesy ABC. Notorious pre-insolvency advisor Stephen Mark O’Neill 54 of Port Melbourne – aka Steve Marks – has been sentenced today to five years gaol after last year pleading guilty to one count of dealing with proceeds of crime. The scheduled imprisonment was originally to take place yesterday but was adjourned for 24 hours yesterday morning so a judge…