One of the most sacred rules within our precious legal system has recently been broken by a Sydney law firm and this firm has connections to the highest office in Australia. It involves the practice of defrauding people by creating what is known as a phoenix company (sending a company deliberately 'broke' and transferring its assets into a new 'phoenix' company). Phoenix companies are a $3 Billion problem in Australia. To date, neither our current government or ASIC have taken any action in this particular case, but Australians can now view the evidence for themselves, right here below in just a few minutes, to see why an urgent independent investigation is needed. On Friday 31 March 2017, there was a judgment in the NSW Supreme Court which, among other things, ordered Sydney-based company Live Board Holdings Limited to pay $250,000 as 'Security for Costs' in order to proceed to a trial against its former director, Mr Pierce Cody and his new phoenix company Cody Live Pty Ltd. In over 3 years, Live Board Holdings has yet to be able to get to a trial against Mr Cody for its main case. Unlike any typical case, Live Board Holdings has been impacted by serious malpractice from a Sydney law firm named Whittens & McKeough Lawyers, who as you will see, have actively contributed to Australia's $3 billion problem of phoenix companies. So let's see what this firm - with links to the NSW Wentworth Liberals, has done. So illegally, so confidently. Whitten's & McKeough Lawyers are the former lawyers of Live Board Holdings Limited. They have been systematically assisting this director named Mr Pierce Cody, to defraud their very own client (subsequently its former client) Live Board Holdings. To see their initial client representation for yourself, click here for an extract of a letter from Whittens Lawyers 'acting for' Live Board Holdings. It wasn't too long before their conflict of interest as legal practitioners became reckless. So reckless in fact, Whittens even commenced proceedings representing other parties against their own client Live Board Holdings. To view that click here. Here they are, acting for Live Board Holdings as their client again, appointing administrators to it. In one of the biggest abuses of solicitor/client trust, here they are assisting Mr Cody (and his self-named phoenix company Cody Live ) purchase all of their client's assets, whilst its client was in administration. To top off the phoenix scam and ensure their 'now-former' client, was also left without evidence that can be used in court against its new client (and themselves), here are Whittens Lawyers confirming in a letter that all of Live Board Holdings documents (in addition to its assets) had now been sold to its new client, Cody Live. If that wasn't enough, here are Whittens & McKeough Lawyers, filing a Security for Costs motion against their now-former client, Live Board Holdings, for the benefit of themselves and their new client. This firm acts as if they are above the law. So, in order to learn why Whittens acted so illegally, so confidently, I had to dig a bit deeper. Whittens Lawyers were founded by former Wentworth Liberal vice president, Mr Ray Whitten. He runs this legal practice alongside Mr Alistair McKeough. Mr Ray Whitten was revealed by the Daily Telegraph to be involved in the NSW 'Jobs for Mates' saga. An extract of that article is here: I don't know why Whittens & McKeough Lawyers have acted with such shameless disregard for the law. However in my view, it appears that creating a phoenix company is quite normal for this legal firm. In 2016, a letter was provided to the Prime Minister by the Deputy Opposition Leader Tanya Plibersek, on behalf of the parties affected by the conduct of Mr Pierce Cody and Whittens Lawyers (if you haven't already seen that letter, you can view it here). Nothing was done to assist Live Board Holdings. Nothing was done to end Australia's $3 billion problem of phoenix companies. We can now reveal that Mr Cody has previously assisted the funding of the NSW Liberals, including hosting Mr Turnbull and others, as confirmed in a promotional flyer below. It appears that Mr Cody may have met with the PM soon after Mr Turnbull had received that 2016 letter, an extract of an email I received about this, is also below. We don't know if Mr Turnbull or the other politicians in this flyer are fully aware of the extent of Mr Cody's tendencies, or the intricate details of Whittens Lawyer's operations. What is now very clear, is that when Mr Cody needed a law practice to break the law for him, he turned to the law firm of the former vice president of the NSW Wentworth Liberals. Live Board Holdings has now been left in court proceedings, without key evidence (it has been 'sold' to Mr Cody's new phoenix company) and is the subject of serious malpractice by its now-former legal representatives Whittens & McKeough Lawyers. As for the 'Security for Costs' judgment of March 2017 - the judge that delivered the decision against Live Board Holdings on 31st March 2017, Justice Stephen Robb, is the Liberal Party's former barrister. He had also been previously revealed by the Daily Telegraph to be part of that same NSW 'jobs for boys' saga as Mr Ray Whitten. An extract of that article is here: You can view the 31 March 2017 judgment, by Justice Stephen Robb against Live Board Holdings here. Under no circumstances do I suggest that Justice Stephen Robb is aware of the actions of Whittens Lawyers, or anything other than the facts available in the Security for Costs proceedings. In my view, it appears as though there is an ideology among certain sections of the NSW Liberals, which needs to change, in order to work towards ending the problem of phoenix companies, which affects thousands of people each year. In any case, there needs to be an urgent independent investigation into Whittens & McKeough Lawyers and the events in this matter. In my view, the public is at risk. Let's end Australia's $3 billion problem of phoenix companies. It starts here. Comments are closed.
|
AuthorCosta Koulis Archives
April 2017
Categories |