Liquidators

Receivers must dip into $600k pot for levies and costs

Bradd Morelli. Image: Linked In.Jirsch Sutherland duo Bradd Morelli and Trent Devine have added another page to the colourful catalogue of litigation chronicling their time as liquidators and receivers of FW Projects Pty Limited after the Federal Court last month ordered them to relinquish sums from a fund of $600,000 in “retention monies”.The court’s decision in Morelli (liquidator), in the matter of FW Projects Pty…


Court approves liquidators’ decision to disavow

Deloitte’s Robert Woods.Deloitte partner Sal Algeri.Liquidators who identified claims against directors have persuaded a court to green light their decision to walk away without pursuing the claims, and they’ve made sure the public can’t know why.“In all the circumstances I accept that it would be just and beneficial to the liquidation process to afford the Liquidators protection against any allegations that might be made that…


Dalma DAs reach winding up the hard way

Jones Partners principal Bruce Gleeson. Helm Advisory managing director Stephen Hathway.By an expensive and torturous route, the insolvency practitioners in control of Dalma Form Specialist Pty Ltd (DFS) have gotten to where they’ve said they wanted to be all along, which is as Liquidators appointed.The desired destination was reached on Wednesday when Federal Court judge Justice Brigitte Markovic ordered that the Deed of Company Arrangement…


Liquidator forced to disgorge ATO overpayment

Steve Kugel of The Insolvency Experts.Costa Nicodemou of Newpoint Advisory.Worth a try is one way to describe a Sydney liquidator’s efforts to determine whether he was entitled keep money mistakenly paid by the ATO. Another way perhaps is to acknowledge that once the misdirected money arrived in an account the liquidator controlled, it was his duty to confirm whether he was obliged to repay it…


Phoenix architect coughs up his $431k fee

McGrathNicol’s Anthony Connelly.McGrathNicol’s Jamie Harris.You know you’re on a winner when the self-described “restructuring specialist” you’ve fingered as a phoenix scheme architect offers to give back the dough.You also know – because you’re an experienced insolvency practitioner who’s been around the block – that nothing is ever simple, and as is shown in the case of TSK QLD Pty Ltd (TSK), such offers are invariably…


Liquidator loses $1.5 million security for costs fight

Olvera Advisors’ Michael Billingsley.A purportedly “strong case” hasn’t cut any ice for a Sydney liquidator seeking to avoid having to stump up $1.5 million in security for costs.As is revealed in Ceni Enterprises Pty Ltd (in liq) v Sykes, in the matter of Ceni Enterprises Pty Ltd (in liq) [2024] FCA 842 Federal Court judge Brigitte Markovic rejected the key argument of Olvera Advisors’ Michael…


“Deed of Novation” to cure receiver’s validity issue

Domenic Calabretta. Image: Mackay Goodwin.Mackay Goodwin principal Domenic Calabretta was able to partially assuage concerns about validity during a interlocutory hearing on Monday by producing documents in relation to his appointment as receiver of Harris Health Care Pty Ltd (HHC) but as the presiding judge observed, doubt remains. The question of standing emerged early in the hearing Calabretta’s amended interlocutory application, which he brought in…


Cayman lawyers fight to dislodge Hall Chadwick

Hall Chadwick’s Richard Albarran. Later this year the Federal Court will be asked to determine whether the Hall Chadwick quartette of Brent Kijurina, Cameron Shaw, Aaron Dominish and Richard Albarran should be replaced as liquidators of Probis Financial Services Pty Ltd (Probis) on the basis of bias.The application was commenced in February by Probis’s largest creditor, Harneys Trusts (Cayman) Limited (Harneys) as trustee for the…


Struck off liquidator languishing in negligence limbo

Ex-liquidator David Iannuzzi.You’d think that by agreeing to relinquish your liquidator’s registration for a decade, you might buy yourself a little peace. Well not if you’re former Veritas Advisory principal and struck off ex-liquidator David Iannuzzi.The self-styled CFO and “loyal advisor”, who isn’t averse to posting the odd-stinging commentary about his former peers on social media is a defendant in multiple sets of proceedings commenced…


Properly contradictory or utterly adversarial?

Domenic Calabretta. Image: Mackay Goodwin.Mackay Goodwin principal Domenic Calabretta is licking his wounds after being ordered to pay the costs of his unsuccessful intervention in an application where Hayes Advisory’s Alan Hayes sought leave of the court to distribute a surplus in his capacity as liquidator of Sirrah Pty Ltd.Calabretta had intervened on the basis that he had standing as receiver appointed to Harris Health…