Conduct

Receivers fumble as pub stoush resolved

Hall Chadwick partner Kathleen Vouris. Hall Chadwick’s Richard Albarran. Two of Hall Chadwick’s finest have fumbled an opportunity to secure early leverage in a battle over assets in cash-strapped publican Jon Adgemis’s hospitality group.Instead of gaining possession of The Terrace in the Sydney suburb of Alexandria, the pair have been injuncted from doing so after a judge ruled they’d breached Section 440B of the Corporations…


Cor Cordis lands a plum from ASIC

Cor Cordis partner Kate Conneely.Cor Cordis partner Tom Birch.$500,000 for expenses and disbursements. Not a bad start. Certainly it will give Cor Cordis partners Kate Conneely and Tom Birch room to open their shoulders as they commence investigations into the exceedingly mysterious case of 24-U Pty Ltd.You read that right. $500,000. From ASIC. How? Think ProvLiq. In the Federal Court last Friday ASIC applied for…


Bankrupt’s legal payments an assessable benefit

Rogers Reidy director Rob Naudi.It’s a sorry day when a judge, in assessing the credit of three lawyers, finds them to be at best satisfactory witnesses and in respect of one part of their testimony concludes their responses should be treated with caution.Sorry indeed, though iNO can report that the lone accountancy professional in this South Australian tale more than compensated for his legal counterparts’…


Receivers remove fence amid contravention threat

Hall Chadwick partner Kathleen Vouris. Hall Chadwick’s Richard Albarran. We wonder if Richard Albarran and Kathleen Vouris barked urgent orders yesterday morning, demanding staff locate a tradesperson to immediately remove a fence that the two Hall Chadwick partners had only recently caused to be erected?Air Tasker? Hire a Hubby? Just get it done, they might have hollered. And they’d have been be right to.If the…


Incuriosity behind regulator’s attack on trustees

SV Partners’ Anne Meagher.SV Partners’ Adam Kersey.Assuming the proceeding commenced in August by the Inspector-General in Bankruptcy (IGB) against a Gold Coast lawyer and two bankruptcy trustees concludes with judgment, practitioners will gain useful insight into what level of scrutiny of a debtor’s affairs the regulator deems is acceptable.Back in June, The Australian Financial Security Authority (AFSA) issued a statement confirming it had commenced an…


Tax boss avoids indemnity costs in Iannuzzi imbroglio

Struck off ex liquidator David Iannuzzi.Evading an order for indemnity costs aside, iNO can’t help wondering if the Commissioner of Taxation (CoT) regrets entering into consent orders with struck off liquidator David Iannuzzi way back in 2019.Sure the CoT avoided the need to go through with the court-ordered inquiry it initially sought into Iannuzzi’s conduct as a registered liquidator, but given what’s transpired since maybe…


Costs carve up after Dalma DoCA set aside

Jones Partners principal Bruce Gleeson. Jones Partners Daniel Soire.Creditors of controversial and assetless ex-formworker Dalma Form Specialist Pty Ltd (DFS) breathe easy, unless you’re a related party creditor who opposed the application to terminate the DFS DoCA, the creditor who made the application or the creditor who supported it. One way or another you lot just got stung.Such was the outcome when the parties in…


Chance for ASIC to enforce for enforcement’s sake

Vanguard Insolvency Australia principal Mohammad Najjar.Never buy downhill from a servo is one of the many lessons to be gleaned from the recent decision of Associate Judge Joanne Harrison in the matter of Seaforth Securities Pty Limited v Zoya Investments Pty Limited [2024] NSWSC 1061.In granting plaintiff Seaforth Securities‘ (Seaforth) application for more than $9.3 million in damages against Zoya Investments (Zoya) the NSW Supreme…


Trustee failed to exercise due care: judge

Yan (Leann) Li of Crossroads Insolvency.A trustee in bankruptcy has been denied remuneration and will be required to disgorge funds from his trust account in respect of a dodgy petition, acceptance of which rightly embarrasses multiple parties, from the duplicitous debtor, to the trustee, a member of the trustee’s staff, and the Official Receiver. ” a trustee’s pre appointment conduct will be a reason for…


New Wilkie Energy VAs uncover $60k director payment

KordaMentha partner David Johnstone.Remagen Capital’s Simon Raftery.The imbroglio that is New Wilkie Energy (NWE) keeps on giving.So far we’ve seen the original administrators from BRI Ferrier replaced then sued by trade suppliers, BDO Corporate commence action to wind up a related entity not in VA and now it appears that the appointing director was potentially a man of straw who agreed to be installed as…