Public Examinations

Bondi InJunction as liquidator resists removal

Liquidator Gavin Moss. Photo: iNO Images The hot sauce of cross examination was in full-flavoured evidence yesterday as iNO took another bite of proceedings in FOGO Brazilia Franchise Holdings Pty Ltd (FBFH). FBFH director, Rebel Sports co-founder and plaintiff Ian Dresner is seeking an inquiry into Chifley Advisory’s Gavin Moss, allegedly for demonstrating a lack of independence and misleading the court. Dresner also wants an…


HLB Mann Judd partner grilled over FEG negotiations

HLB Mann Judd partner Todd Gammel. Liquidator Todd Gammel endured a light grilling during virtual cross examination on Monday as lawyers for All Filtration Technologies Australia (ALTA) sought to derail the HLB Mann Judd partner’s application for an extension of time in which to bring proceedings related to the ALTA group’s 2015 restructure. Gammel, along with colleague Barry Taylor were required to bring the extension…


Shared anxiety over examinations deferred

Pitcher Partners’ Andrew Yeo. Pitcher Partners’ Gess Rambaldi. Liquidators contemplating public examinations may benefit from an account of the tortured progress being made by Andrew Yeo and Gess Rambaldi as they try to examine Ms Sherife Roseanna Ymer, the ex-wife of alleged fraud and phoenix mastermind Philip Whitman. It’s almost three years since the Pitcher Partners’ pair obtained summonses requiring Ymer to attend for examination…


Liquidator alleged to have knowingly misled court

Liquidator Gavin Moss outside the NSW Supreme Court this week. Never has iNO regretted scheduling a dental appointment more than when an hour of root canal on Wednesday morning led to us missing the moment liquidator Gavin Moss was alleged to have knowingly misled a court. Stoically endured and lavishly anaesthetised discomfort aside, the making of this allegation before NSW Supreme Court judge Kate Williams…


Privilege dispute leaves liquidator with costs

Cor Cordis Melbourne partner Bruno Secatore. The week wouldn’t be complete if we didn’t revisit briefly the ongoing slugfest between Cor Cordis Melbourne boss Bruno Secatore and Deloitte as the former delves into the latter’s lengthy involvement with the Bob Jane tyre empire. As liquidator of Bob Jane Group entity Last Lap Pty Ltd Secatore has succeeded in having summonses for public examination issued to…


Ex-Deloitte partner quizzed over Last Lap restructure

Cor Cordis Melbourne partner Bruno Secatore. Deloitte Restructuring Consultant Simon Wallace-Smith. Eventful on multiple levels best describes yesterday’s public examination (PE) of former Deloitte partner and now consultant Simon Wallace-Smith, who was being questioned about his former tenure as liquidator of Last Lap Pty Ltd by counsel for the current incumbent. To start with, there were problems with all the parties being on the same…


Erskine giving examinees the hot and cold treatment

Brooke Bird’s Robyn Erskine. The temperature in Federal Court 19B went from too hot to too cold between last Friday and Monday this week but for the examinees summonsed to appear by liquidator Robyn Erskine, the chill did little to improve their recall. Central to the Brooke Bird principal’s investigation into North Shore Property Developments Pty Ltd are events that go back to 2014 but…


Air-con failure not the only reason examinees fuming

Brooke Bird’s Robyn Erskine. There were testy exchanges in Federal Court room 19B yesterday, and it wasn’t just the examinees being put to question by counsel for Brooke Bird’s Robyn Erskine who were getting hot under the collar as the air conditioning failed. More than once barrister Scott Aspinall remarked about the oppressive atmosphere in the court where he has been grilling individuals associated with…


Ex-staff flung under the bus as bosses get grilled

Struck-off liquidator David Iannuzzi. Former Veritas Advisory director Steve Naidenov. The public examination conducted by Brooke Bird’s Robyn Erskine over the last month has been instructive on multiple levels. For a start, it’s put ex-liquidator David Iannuzzi in the witness box for the second time in as many months. That’s an ordeal Iannuzzi might have thought he’d avoided when in November last year Federal Court…


Liquidator next to grill Premier’s disgraced ex

Louttit & Associates’ Jamieson Louttit While the recent ICAC hearings were what put the spotlight on NSW Premier Gladys Berijiklian’s former relationship with former Wagga Wagga local member Darryl Maguire, Sydney insolvency practitioner Jamieson Louttit is also planning to illuminate certain activities connected to the disgraced ex-politician. Last month Louttit replaced PKF’s Brad Tonks as liquidator of UWE Hay Pty Ltd, UWE – Griffith Property…