Discipline

Wife of Stephen Charles Hall replaces him as director

Banned director’s wife takes over

What would banned director Stephen Charles Hall of Burleigh Heads in Queensland do without wife Jodie? When the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) banned the pre-insolvency advisor and head of Eagle Business Solutions (EBS) for five years from April 26, 2016 Jodie Lynette Hall stepped in to ensure some of her husband’s companies continued with herself at the helm. There was no saving EBS. It was…


Banned director Stephen Hall spruiking insolvency leads

Banned director Hall spruiking leads for IPs

Remember when the courts banned Gold Coast turnaround advisor Stephen Charles Hall from being a director of a company for five years? It was back in April 2016. The 26th to be precise. ASIC had investigated the prolific cold caller after he got in the ear of company director Brad Streeter and persuaded him that the imminent winding up of his company by the ATO…


Victorian liquidator suspended

CALDB suspends Victorian liquidator

Two weeks before Christmas Melbourne-based insolvency practitioner Stan Traianedes received the most thoughtful of gifts from the Companies Auditors and Liquidators Disciplinary Board (CALDB) – a three year suspension that will allow him ample time to pursue his passion for photography. The Hall Chadwick alumnus – who until his lengthy benching practiced under the name S&Z Insolvency from offices in ritzy Parkville – was hauled before CALDB…


asic launches legal action against liquidators

ASIC asks court to ban Wily and Hurst

The corporate regulator has ensured 2017 starts with a bang by asking the NSW Supreme Court to inquire into the conduct of Armstrong Wily principal Andrew Wily and former partner Dave Hurst in relation to their conduct of liquidations associated with Crystal Car Wash Cafe. Neither defendant was free to comment when contacted by SiN. The full text of the ASIC release follows. ASIC has lodged an…


McGrathNicol queried on McAleese

Given the big banks’ lack of agility in every sector they operate it’s no surprise that their practice of favouring certain insolvency firms is generating angst. Only a select group – Korda Mentha, Ferrier Hodgson, EY, PPB Advisory, PwC and McGrathNicol – consistently get a look in on the lucrative receivership work doled out by the big four and the same goes for the major administrations. One…


dVT partners confess to compliance failures

ASIC’s ongoing review of liquidator compliance has claimed a pair of significant scalps with the regulator announcing yesterday that Riad Tayeh and David Solomons of dVT Group had entered into voluntary undertakings (VUs) with the regulator. In a press release ASIC said the pair had acknowledged shortcomings in the standards of compliance required in terms of their obligations to publish public notices and lodge documents….


Regulator regulating liquidators out of existence.

Regulator regulating liquidators out of existence

The Australian Securities and Investment Commission’s (ASIC) annual report for 2015 – 2016 was released yesterday and the data contained within demonstrates no lessening in the scrutiny the regulator applies to Australia’s current population of 707 registered liquidators. In the last financial year 24 liquidators and auditors were subject to enforcement action brought by ASIC. The preceding year the number was six. During the period…


Vic Liq consents to compliance gauntlet

Victorian liquidator Ross John McDermott has consented to a raft of restraints, obligations and orders in the wake of a judicial inquiry into his conduct on 26 appointments as either voluntary administrator (VA), liquidator or deed administrator (DA). Federal Court Justice Mark Moshinsky last week made orders prohibiting the 30-year veteran practitioner from accepting formal insolvency appointments – with the exception of members voluntary liquidations (MVLs) –…


ATO raid unearths suspended liquidator

ATO raid unearths banned liquidator

One of the targets of a raid last month by the inter-agency phoenix task force had been utilising the services of Andrew Dunner, the former PKF partner whose registration as a liquidator was suspended for five years in 2013. On August 11 officers from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) raided the Adelaide Street offices of A&S Services Australia in the…


Kordas quits after ARITA intervention

Coincidences, like hurricanes in Hampshire, hardly ever happen so what is to be made of the missive from the Australian Restructuring Insolvency and Turnaround Association (ARITA) about independence and indemnities in light of the almost simultaneous relinquishing of the North West Crane Hire administration by Korda Mentha? On Monday ARITA advised members it had observed an ominous trend. Practitioners appointed as administrators were increasingly accepting…