Our client was made to attend an ASIC section 19 examination.
An ASIC section 19 examination is a process conducted by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) under the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001. This questioning was held in the ASIC office in Collins Street, Melbourne.
These are coercive hearings and ASIC has the power to compel any person to appear before its investigators.
The primary purpose of a section 19 examination is to investigate potential breaches of laws under the Corporations Act, or any law of a Commonwealth, State or Territory which primarily involves fraud, dishonesty, or relates to financial services.
What is alleged to have occured?
Our client had received a notice directing her to attend for an examination. She wisely decided to obtain legal advice and have someone attend with her.
Prior to attending, a lot of time was spent discussing how she should best articulate her position to ASIC and its investigations.
What happened at court and what was the result?
It became quite clear that her involvement was very limited and, although she was questioned for a long time, there were never any charges laid against her.
If she had failed to comply with the requirements to attend for examination, she would have been open to both a penalty of up to 100 penalty units (approximately $18,000) and imprisonment, or both.
ASIC section 19 examinations are held in private and there are orders that surround them about not discussing any aspect of the examination with anyone (except for the purpose of getting legal advice) for the period they select.
For more detailed information, please visit our page on Section 19 examinations.
DISCLAIMER: This is a real case study of an actual case from our files. Details pertaining to the client have been changed to protect their privacy. The sentence imposed and the charge have not been altered. These case studies are published to demonstrate real outcomes and give an indication of possible tariffs in Court. We do not guarantee a similar case on these charges will get the same result. Please note that we post results at our discretion, therefore while many case studies are average results, others are notable for their exceptional outcomes. PUBLISHED 14/10/2024
