Items seized in limbo as receivers challenged

Litigation between the provisional liquidators (ProvLiqs) and receivers of entities linked to controversial advisor Sam Cassaniti and related parties shows no sign of slackening, with submissions on a fresh challenge on conflict grounds coming before the Federal Court this week.

ERA Lawyers a running two sets of proceedings for Peter Krejci, Andrew Cummins and Jonathan Keenan as the BRI Ferrier trio investigate an alleged tax evasion scheme.

But with orders freezing assets of related companies not in provliq but in receivership, various defendants and “interested persons” are calling foul on conflict and demanding a change of receivers or a relaxing of freezing orders so they can access funds to pay legal fees.

The cash box at the centre of the dispute is Marginata Securities Pty Ltd. Cassaniti was a director until last year and his wife Thi Linh Trinh remains as sole director and shareholder, though she switched her shareholding status to non-beneficial last month.

Ms Trinh and others want Krejci, Keenan and Cummins removed on the basis that they are either conflicted as being both receivers and ProvLiqs or will become so if the ProvLiqs’ succeed in their applications to have the various entities wound up and orders made appointing them as general purpose liquidators (GPLs).

The identity of the proposed replacements was not disclosed during this week’s hearing.

And if that wasn’t enough to be getting on with the BRI trio and their lawyers are battling an application to have the original Anton Pillar orders allowing for the search and seizure of the premises of Cassaniti’s Accolade Advisory and law firm McEvoy Legal set aside.

In conjunction with that is an ongoing battle for the right to access much of the material seized during the February 19, 2025 raid.

At present Bridges Lawyers‘ Dominic Calabria and Ben Dibden, the independent lawyers appointed by the court to give effect to the Anton Pilar orders are between a rock and a hard place.

They cannot yet be sure in respect of some of the material in their possession what they can share with the ProvLiqs while so much of it is the subject of claims of legal professional privilege, privilege against self-incrimination, claims of ownership or claims that the material is not a book or record of the companies to which the ProvLiqs are appointed.

As a consequence ERA lawyers can view disputed materials but their clients cannot.

The challenge in respect of some of the seized material also applies to Digital Trace Australia, the IT forensics firm co-founded by ex-Ferrier Hodgson and KordaMentha partner Nigel Carson and engaged to scrape Accolade’s and McEvoy’s servers.

Barring a settlement there’s no chance of a ceasefire or a shrinking of the frontline but if the BRI trio are punted who knows how cooperative the defendants might become when dealing with a new crew.