Trustees

Unremedied anomaly elicits official caution

BPS Recovery’s Dave Sampson. AFSA has issued an official caution to a Sydney-based bankruptcy trustee following investigation of a meeting convened under 75-175(2)(b) of the Bankruptcy Rules to consider a Section 73 compromise proposed by pornographer Damien Costas. “This legislation applies to general meetings and not meetings held for the purposes of creditors to consider a section 73 proposal (composition or arrangement).” Scott Reid, senior…


Suspended trustee’s cunning plan for fees

Suspended trustee Peter Macks. You would think the transfer of a bankrupt estate from one trustee to two others would be straightforward. It’s not like there’s no precedent upon which practitioners and their lawyers can rely. Straightforward however is not a word that could be applied to the brouhaha that’s engulfed Worrells’ Daniel Cvitanovic and Steve Hundy, inheritors of an estate formerly in the hands…


Pornographer’s trustee cops AFSA complaint

BPS Recovery’s Dave Sampson. Jones Partners’ Michael Jones. 04/08/2021: The creditor who spent big bankrupting pornographer Damien Costas has lodged a complaint with AFSA about Costa’s trustee and wants the regulator to set aside the vote of a creditors meeting that saw Costas’ bankruptcy annulled. Print company executive Anthony Karam, whose TMA Group had a claim against Costas for more than $170,000, filed the complaint…


Trustee cops criticism but avoids suspension

Daniel Moore – BCR Advisory (Qld). Earlier this month a committee convened to determine what if any penalty should be meted out to bankruptcy trustee Daniel Moore arrived at its verdict and, appropriately, the reasons for that determination have been made public. Whilst the amiable Queenslander has been shackled with a number of restrictions, he hasn’t been stripped of his trustee’s registration. Nor has it…


Trade Choses of Action and find Funding with LAE

ADVERTORIAL Legal Action Exchange (LAE) is a digital platform for liquidators and bankruptcy trustees that facilitates the sale of choses of action and the acquisition of funding for legal actions. On Legal Action Exchange you can post the details of choses of action you are looking to sell or fund but don’t have the time or resources to fund yourself. How it works The Liquidator/…


dVT founder retiring with KordaMentha in pursuit

Retiring – dVT Group founder Antony De Vries dVT Group’s Antony De Vries is preparing to bow out after a long career as one of western Sydney’s bigger insolvency wheels but any expectation of a tranquil retirement will likely be disappointed in the short term at least. In their capacity as the liquidators of the failed tax scam Timbercorp, KordaMentha partners by Craig Shepard and…


Queensland trustee referred to disciplinary committee

Daniel Moore – BCR Advisory (Qld). Veteran trustee and liquidator Daniel Moore has been referred to a disciplinary committee in respect of allegations he breached his statutory and fiduciary duties. The Queensland-based insolvency practitioner was referred to a disciplinary committee by the Inspector-General in Bankruptcy under part 2, schedule 2 on March 10. Moore did not respond to requests for comment but a source with…


AFSA acts after court suspends liquidator

Macks Advisory’s Peter Macks. AFSA deputy ceo Gavin McCosker Adelaide resident and insolvency practitioner Peter Macks would no doubt have anticipated this week’s announcement by the Australian Financial Security Authority (AFSA) advising that it had sent him to the naughty corner. It was less than a fortnight ago that a judge of the Supreme Court of South Australia suspended Macks’ registration as a liquidator for…


Trustshees to enjoy 20% of pie as AFSA tackles bias

AFSA deputy ceo Gavin McCosker Australia’s trustees in bankruptcy are about to learn the detail of a proposal that would see up to 20 per cent of all files AFSA and the Official Trustee farm out to private trustees reserved for the 10 per cent who are female. iNO’s spies divulged this week that the Australian Financial Security Authority (AFSA) is preparing to seek feedback…


Jirsch Sutherland’s new recruit can walk the walk

Jirsch Sutherland’s new recruit, Paul Pattison. Jirsch Sutherland may have lost a veteran partner with the departure next March of Sule Arnautovic but it’s recently gained a national business development manager, and if the firm wanted someone who can relate to business owners going through the wringer then who better than ex-liquidator and ex-trustee in bankruptcy Paul Pattison? About a decade ago, Victoria-based Pattison went…