Pitcher Partners’ Andrew Yeo. Victorian liquidator Ross McDermott. It’s been some time but the wearisome tale of Lonnex, a company connected to the late Dr Geoffrey Edelstein, could be at an end after Pitcher Partners’ Andrew Yeo obtained court approval for a deal that ends the ongoing scrap between major creditor the ATO and Lonnex’s former liquidators. Details of this dispute’s seeming resolution were delivered…
Ex-liquidator and former Jirsch Sutherland partner Amanda Young. Ex-liquidator and convicted fraud Amanda Young has avoided gaol after a judge yesterday ordered that the 41 year old serve a term of imprisonment totalling 27 months while subject to an intensive corrections order (ICO). At the conclusion of a two and half hour hearing District Court judge Kara Shead said that but for Young’s fragile mental…
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. Barring settlement at mediation or ASIC’s case collapsing for want of competence the next 18 months represents a period of nagging uncertainty for Jason Bettles. Orders made in the Federal…
KPMG’s Andrew Smith. KPMG’s Martin Jones. ASIC’s record of litigation against registered liquidators continues to resist improvement, with a judge yesterday labelling the regulator’s bid to induce him to slash the fees of two voluntary administrators (VAs) as “unprincipled” and “wholly pointless”. “It was never viable to differentiate work that was said to be ‘tainted’, from work said not to be. If it is ASIC’s…
Savants’ Adrian Duncan. Adrian Duncan, the registered liquidator and a key investor in the failed 2005 bid to list Knights Insolvency Administration on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) is rumoured to have left Britain for South America after the UK regulator stripped him of his license and his firm Savants Restructuring was placed in administration. Three years after the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England…
Proposed Salt Lake Potash Limited Special Purpose Administrator Dermott McVeigh of Avior Consulting. So you concede your appointment might appear to be less than entirely free of conflict, that regulators and others are scrutinising the circumstances of said appointment and your solution is to apply to a court to appoint a special purpose administrator (SPA), whose job will include clearing you (hopefully) of any conduct…
Greyhouse Partners’ Ben Verney. Commercial judgment appears to have won out in respect of a dispute over the fees of a former voluntary administrator (VA) who refused to comply with a costs order while his remuneration remained unapproved. The recently resolved stand off involved Greyhouse Partners Ben Verney, who was formerly voluntary administrator (VA) of Icon Construction Australia (NSW) Pty Ltd (ICA NSW), the company’s…
Crouch Amirbeaggi co-founder Nick Crouch. For at least a decade Nick Crouch has advocated for reform of insolvency laws with the aim of achieving a simpler regulatory regime for businesses seeking to survive, but now it’s the NSW north coast native’s own license to liquidate that’s under threat. Last week the Crouch Amirbeaggi co-founder was referred by ASIC to a Schedule 2 disciplinary committee, no…
Hamilton Murphy’s Stephen Dixon. Liquidator Ahmed Bise. Invalidity of appointment, inadequate attention to Consumer Credit codes, trespass even. Two recent judgments of Supreme Court of Victoria judge Peter Riordan show why it is wise to know one’s appointor, and even wiser to verify their security. Stephen Dixon and Ahmed Bise, the unfortunate pair in this salutary tale were, at the time of their first appointment…
KPMG’s Tim Michael. KPMG partner John Lindholm. Gold Coast solicitor Chris Nyst could have the makings of a momentous new novel at his fingertips following ASIC’s ex-parte application for orders freezing the assets and confining to the jurisdiction Heidi Elizabeth Walters and Aryn Henry Hala. “The significant difficulty for ASIC is that, by its nature, cryptocurrency is easily transferred and moved about. Moreover, it can…