| Media and Entertainment | Asset Tracing | Instructed by a legal firm acting for an investor to provide expert evidence on the accounting for transactions in the financing of a stage production by Capital Finance Corporation. The purpose was to identify differences between the actual transactions and the prospectus for the project.
| Independent Expert |
| Financial services | Asset Tracing | On behalf of the Volcker Commission, one of our partners was a senior team member in Switzerland engaged to determine the existence of dormant bank accounts and assets at a global Swiss financial institution which allegedly belonged to the victims of Nazi persecution.
| Independent Investigation |
| Retail | Asset Tracing | Traced hundreds of dividend payments totalling $1 billion from subsidiaries to parent entities in the complex group structure of a large collapsed multi-services company. The aim was to determine the quantum of payments that directly or indirectly passed to the ultimate holding company as part of an investigation of intra-company dividend arrangements in a large tax dispute.
| Consultant |
| Public Sector / enforcement | Bribery and Corruption | Undertook an investigation into suspicions of fraud, corruption and conflicts of interest involving falsification of property titles in Kingston, Jamaica. This assignment included the review of records, interviews with staff and informants and liaising with local police. | Independent Investigation |
| Environmental Services | Bribery and Corruption | Investigated allegations of corruption in the metal recycling industry. The allegations centred on company management and site managers allegedly receiving kickbacks from suppliers, who were also potentially related parties, in return for overpayments for goods supplied.
| Independent Investigation |
| Energy and Utilities | Bribery and Corruption | Appointed by a public utility to investigate protected disclosures alleging improper conduct involving a senior employee. The work involved the review of documentation and interviewing employees, related parties and members of the Board of Directors. | Independent Investigation |
| Manufacturing | Bribery and Corruption | Appointed by an international computer manufacturer to investigate the alleged breach of code of conduct policies in one of its businesses arising from allegations of the receipt of corrupt payments from an employee of a service provider. | Independent Investigation |
| Retail | Bribery and Corruption | Engaged to investigate allegations of corruption involving senior executives of a large listed Australian retailer. Our review of documentation and discussions identified inappropriate dealings with the company’s suppliers.
| Independent Investigation |
| Telecommunications | Bribery and Corruption | Undertook a bribery and corruption risk assessment for a telecommunications company to identify areas of potential risk to the business and project managed the implementation of the recommendations to ensure that adequate procedures were put in place to manage the risks identified.
| Consultant |
| Commercial and Professional Services | Class / Multi-Party Actions | Engaged by a New York law firm on behalf of the Defendant in a shareholder class action. The work included a review of financial records and other documents to assess the accuracy and timeliness of disclosures to the market regarding financial performance and earnings forecasts.
| Consultant |
| Energy and Utilities | Class / Multi-Party Actions | Led the forensic team acting as Independent Expert for a global energy and natural resources business, quantifying class action claims for property damage and consequential losses arising from the interruption of the gas supply to business and domestic users in Victoria following the Longford fire and explosion.
| Independent Expert |
| Materials - Agriculture, forestry, paper, chemicals and building materials | Class / Multi-Party Actions | Engaged as consulting experts by a global packaging business defending multiple customer and class action claims in respect of allegations of price fixing. Our work included the review and quantification of multiple loss and damage claims as well as the formulation of litigation strategies.
| Consultant |
| Health Care and Pharmaceuticals | Class / Multi-Party Actions | Engaged by a New York law firm to investigate a financial statement misstatement of a publicly-listed retail pharmacy company. The misstatement had subject to a US Securities and Exchange Commission investigation and a shareholder class action. The US$4 billion restatement was the then-largest restatement in SEC history.
| Independent Investigation |
| Materials - Agriculture, forestry, paper, chemicals and building materials | Class / Multi-Party Actions | Prepared an Independent Expert report and the gave evidence in relation to the collapse of a major listed managed investment scheme group operating in the agriculture sector. The issues related to the integrated operations of the group, whether it was experiencing financial difficulty and the adequacy of disclosures to the market.
| Independent Expert |
| Energy and Utilities | Contract Assessment | Assisted an organisation undertaking a large energy and natural resource project to examine the management of their large contracts. The client was proactively seeking advice on their systems and processes in managing approximately 30 contracts with a forecast total spend of $20 billion. Specific advice provided related to payment verification, change orders and resolution of contract issues which could arise such as overcharging.
| Consultant |
| Energy and Utilities | Contract Assessment | Assisted an organisation by providing an independent assessment on the management of specified contracts and the costs incurred. The work included conducting a risk assessment of the contracts, conducting a survey of stakeholders to extract perceptions and information on the effectiveness of processes and the management of contracts, performing data analytics and inspecting the books and records of selected contractors.
| Consultant |
| Commercial and Professional Services | Data Analytics | Assisted a private investment fund with a dispute following the sale of a business to a major listed Australian company, including detailed data analysis of asset registers, advising on the choice of Independent Expert and preparation of a written submission.
| Consultant |
| Telecommunications | Data Analytics | Engaged to quantify the value of commissions due from a telecommunications supplier to dealers as a result of an alleged breach of the Airtime Commissions Policy. We extracted and reconstructed 15 years' of transaction history to compile time lines used to identify potential breaches and the related commissions.
| Consultant |
| Non-Government Organisations | Data Analytics | Engaged to analyse key data sets from three governing bodies in the racing industry in Victoria. The data was compared and combined to analyse key questions on risk and compliance.
| Consultant |
| Information Technology | Data Analytics | Engaged to investigate whether preference payments were made to suppliers of a company in liquidation. To assist in the preference action recoveries, our work included data analysis, email searches, evidence preparation and provision of an insolvent trading analysis, including a review of potential breaches of directors' duties.
| Consultant |
| Health Care and Pharmaceuticals | Electronic Data Capture, Discovery and Analysis | Project managed the forensic technology services provided to a pharmaceutical company in relation to an international dispute. The work involved the ongoing management and leadership of the electronic discovery process for a number of Asian countries. | Consultant |
| Media and Entertainment | Electronic Data Capture, Discovery and Analysis | Engaged as Independent Expert by an Australian broadcasting corporation in relation to a broadcasting rights dispute. Our work involved an opinion on the authenticity of electronic mail messages.
| Independent Expert |
| Public Sector / enforcement | Electronic Data Capture, Discovery and Analysis | Assisted the Australian Securities and Investments Commission with the execution of numerous search warrants in order to locate relevant electronic information.
| Consultant |
| Leisure | Electronic Data Capture, Discovery and Analysis | Engaged as an expert witness on behalf of a resort and hotel to analyse computers that were subject to court orders in order to obtain evidence of the alleged forgery of contractual documents. Provided an expert report and gave evidence in the Brisbane Supreme Court. | Independent Expert |
| Retail | Electronic Data Capture, Discovery and Analysis | Engaged to assist with the scoping, collection, analysis and reporting of large quantities of electronically stored information for the purposes of responding to potential attention by a regulatory authority. | Consultant |
| Information Technology | Electronic Data Capture, Discovery and Analysis | Engaged to identify the devices responsible for the publishing of information on a Wordpress Blog site defaming senior management of a technology company.
| Consultant |
| Construction and Industrials | Electronic Data Capture, Discovery and Analysis | Engaged to undertake an analysis of electronic documents produced during discovery to determine the identity of suspected electronic storage devices used in the theft of intellectual property.
| Independent Expert |
| Transport | Financial Analysis and Reconstruction | Assisted in a breach of trust case brought against the trustees of a trust fund operating a commercial shipping fleet. Assisted in the development of a complex forecasting model and assessed the reasonableness of a number of payments made by the trust to related parties. | Independent Expert |
| Commercial and Professional Services | Financial Analysis and Reconstruction | Investigated a financial statement misstatement made by the Australian subsidiary of a US publicly-listed engineering consulting company that resulted in an investigation by the SEC and the restatement of previously reported results in the US. It also resulted in an investigation and prosecution of the Australian Managing Director by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.
| Independent Investigation |
| Telecommunications | Financial Analysis and Reconstruction | Engaged by the ACCC to quantify the value of underpaid commissions by a Telecommunications Reselling Franchisor to 63 of its Franchised stores. The work comprised compiling and analysing thousands of individual transactions over a prolonged period of time using data analytic techniques.
| Independent Expert |
| Materials - Agriculture, forestry, paper, chemicals and building materials | Financial Analysis and Reconstruction | Acted as Independent Expert to assess the business model of a Forestry company and its Managed Investment Schemes. We reviewed the entity's reliance on monies from new investors to fund on-going costs of existing schemes.
| Independent Expert |
| Retail | Financial Analysis and Reconstruction | Engaged to reconstruct accounts from hand written books and records and provide analysis and observations of information contained for the purposes of reconciliation with financial statements and tax lodgements.
| Consultant |
| Financial Services | Financial Analysis and Reconstruction | Reconstructed the accounts of a $30 million deceased estate involving several trusts and in excess of 1,000 transactions. Our work involved the application of trustee law as well as the classification of expenditure items between capital and income and an assessment of the reconstruction of the beneficiary position.
| Independent Expert |
| Transport | Fraud Risk Management | Assisted an Australian airline to design and implement a fraud control plan that was compliant with Australian regulations. We also provided advice on appropriate investigation techniques and whistle-blower protection programs.
| Consultant |
| Commercial and Professional Services | Fraud Risk Management | Conducted a fraud risk assessment review of a service sector expense reimbursement process, which included mapping the process, identifying potential areas of fraud risk and recommendations to improve internal controls.
| Consultant |
| Metals and Mining | Fraud Risk Management | Conducted a multi-division fraud risk assessment for a major listed steel company, including an employee survey, workshops and data analysis to identify unusual transactions. | Consultant |
| Financial services | Fraud Risk Management | Undertook a high level fraud risk review for a financial institution in the non-bank fixed interest lending market. The review focussed on the risks associated with lending, debentures and general back office operations. A number of control weaknesses were identified for which we provided suggestions as to how to improve the controls. | Consultant |
| Non-Government Organisations | Fraud Risk Management | Engaged to review two particular integrity processes of three governing bodies' in the racing industry in Victoria as part of the scope of its annual audit.
| Consultant |
| Public Sector / enforcement | Fraud Risk Management | Engaged to provide fraud risk management services to a Commonwealth government agency. McGrathNicol developed and delivered a fraud awareness training across the Agency, facilitated a fraud risk assessment workshop amongst the Executive and Senior Management team and updated the Agency's Fraud Control Plan.
| Consultant |
| Transport | Fraud, Misappropriation and Misconduct | Conducted an investigation on behalf of an international entity following its purchase of an Australian transport company and the allegation that its financial statements had been misstated with the intention of maximising the purchase price. Work included a review of accounting records, interviews with employees and senior management, data mining and a review of its electronic transport system.
| Independent Investigation |
| Manufacturing | Fraud, Misappropriation and Misconduct | Assisted the Administrator of a public automotive parts company to investigate significant events leading up to its administration. We undertook a detailed analysis of documents including electronic records and interviewed senior management to determine if the Corporations Act had been breached and whether insider trading had occurred.
| Consultant |
| Media and Entertainment | Fraud, Misappropriation and Misconduct | Led an investigation into the misappropriation of over $4 million from a joint venture initiated by three major Australian television networks. The business manager engaged in a systemic series of fraudulent transactions over a period of almost five years involving more than 270 unauthorised withdrawals from the company’s bank account. | Independent Investigation |
| Financial Services | Fraud, Misappropriation and Misconduct | Investigated the misappropriation of $7.5 million of client funds invested in at-call accounts and fixed term deposits. The regional manager of an ASX 100 financial institution had engaged in a series of fraudulent transactions over a 18 year period which involved more than 670 unauthorised withdrawals from 61 client accounts.
| Independent Investigation |
| Retail | Fraud, Misappropriation and Misconduct | Investigated the misappropriation of $19 million by a staff member of a listed Australian company. We traced funds through numerous bank accounts controlled by the staff member to the purchase of personal assets with client monies.
| Independent Investigation |
| Leisure | Fraud, Misappropriation and Misconduct | Investigated the misappropriation of gaming and TAB sales by the co-owner and operator of a pub. We also conducted a detailed review to investigate the use of business funds to pay for personal expenses including renovations and additions to their home and rental property.
| Independent Investigation |
| Metals and Mining | Fraud, Misappropriation and Misconduct | Engaged to investigate allegations of inappropriate behaviour made against a senior executive through the organisation's anonymous whistle-blower hotline. The allegations related to potential conflicts of interest, abuse of corporate travel and expenses, breaches of internal controls and poor management practices.
| Consultant |
| Construction and Industrials | Fraud, Misappropriation and Misconduct | Assisted in-house Internal Audit to investigate inappropriate use of corporate credit cards. We worked with our client to develop an investigation plan, provided guidance on the most effective way to review information obtained, interviewed the suspect and made recommendations on the appropriate format to report the matter internally and to law enforcement.
| Consultant |
| Health Care and Pharmaceuticals | Intellectual Property Disputes | Engaged by a New York law firm representing a major pharmaceutical company to analyse the terms of over 5,000 sales contracts and actual sales of a particular drug to determine whether they complied with the terms of a licensing agreement with a competing company.
| Independent Expert |
| Manufacturing | Intellectual Property Disputes | Appointed as Independent Expert to quantify the loss of profits of a business whose intellectual property rights had been infringed. The work required an assessment of damages on an account for profits basis.
| Independent Expert |
| Commercial and Professional Services | Intellectual Property Disputes | Instructed by a legal firm as an independent expert to quantify its loss of profits following the loss of a part of its business to a rival legal firm. | Independent Expert |
| Media and Entertainment | Intellectual Property Disputes | Conducted a royalty investigation on behalf of the Canadian licensor of the Anne of Green Gables series to ensure royalties were appropriately calculated and reported by the Australian distributor. | Independent Expert |
| Financial services | Intellectual Property Disputes | Provided forensic technology assistance in relation to the alleged theft of intellectual property from a financial services corporation. The work involved the detailed analysis of the software that had allegedly been copied and modified by a competitor. | Consultant |
| Leisure | Intellectual Property Disputes | Acted as an investigating accountant on behalf of the owners of an international hotel group, following allegations of improper financial conduct and the understatement of royalties by the hotel managers. | Independent Investigation |
| Metals and Mining | IT investigation and compliance | Conducted an internet and email compliance audit on behalf of an international mining company. The results of the compliance review were reported to management and required the subsequent investigation of a number of employees. | |
| Public Sector / enforcement | IT investigation and compliance | Conducted a review on behalf of a Victorian Government agency in relation to an IT outage incident and provided our report of findings to the relevant minister. | Independent Investigation |
| Metals and Mining | Loss of Profit and Business Interruption | Acted as Independent Expert in a dispute involving a large mining company seeking damages of approximately $50 million from the failure of a significant piece of mining equipment.
| Independent Expert |
| Leisure | Loss of Profit and Business Interruption | Engaged on behalf of an insurer to respond to the opposing side's Independent Expert's report quantifying the loss and damage allegedly suffered by a hospitality business following an interruption to the business caused by building works.
| Independent Expert |
| Health Care and Pharmaceuticals | Loss of Profit and Business Interruption | Extracted sales data to construct a complex financial model estimating the potential value of claims against a pharmaceutical company by customers and third parties following the largest product recall in Australia. The analysis was used by the acting directors to make critical decisions regarding the company's future.
| Consultant |
| Telecommunications | Loss of Profit and Business Interruption | Engaged by a law firm to critique an expert report which quantified the loss of profit allegedly suffered in relation to a breach of contract. The plaintiff was an agent that had been engaged by the defendent, a major telecommunications company, to promote the sale of certain services until the contract was terminated.
| Independent Expert |
| Environmental Services | Loss of Profit and Business Interruption | Prepared an Independent Expert's report for lawyers of a waste management company quantifying the loss suffered by their client arising from the actions of a state owned corporation who allegedly prevented their client from building a materials recycling facility.
| Independent Expert |
| Materials - Agriculture, forestry, paper, chemicals and building materials | Loss of Profit and Business Interruption | Quantified the losses incurred by a winery pursuant to the tainting of several vintages by a third party service provider. | Independent Expert |
| Financial Services | Loss of Profit and Business Interruption | Assisted a regulator to quantify the losses suffered by investors who borrowed significant amounts of funds via margin loans to invest into products offered by a financial services firm. The investors subsequently lost their investments when the firm was placed into liquidation.
| Independent Expert |
| Construction and Industrials | Loss of Profit and Business Interruption | Engaged to quantify a significant contractual claim for a subcontractor on a large construction project. We worked closely alongside the client and its legal advisors to identify and review applicable costs, appropriate methodologies and supporting documentation to quantify the claim submitted to arbitration.
| Independent Expert |
| Telecommunications | Market and Regulator Compliance and Director Duties | Engaged by lawyers for a telecommunications company to assist in preparing a pricing model to respond to regulator enquiries regarding the granting competitors access to infrastructure.
| Consultant |
| Energy and Utilities | Market and Regulator Compliance and Director Duties | Analysed product pricing records on behalf of a global energy and natural resources business following claims of anti-competitive pricing behaviour by the competition regulator. The work comprised the using ACL data mining software to identify pricing behaviour patterns and overlay of this information with timings of meetings and telephone conversations between alleged relevant parties.
| Consultant |
| Manufacturing | Market and Regulator Compliance and Director Duties | Led an investigation into the management of capital projects undertaken by ION Limited, as part of the voluntary administration of the listed automotive parts manufacturer. A second investigation was undertaken into misleading and deceptive conduct by the company as part of the adjudication of shareholder’s claims. | Consultant |
| Construction and Industrials | Market and Regulator Compliance and Director Duties | Assisted a listed entity responding to an investigation by a corporate regulator in relation to a potential breach of continuous disclosure obligations. We worked with our client to identify, extract and then analyse the information held within the complex group.
| Consultant |
| Retail | Post Acquisition Disputes | Delivered an Expert Determination in a post acquisition dispute relating to retail book stores sold in Australia and New Zealand. The vendor and purchaser had different interpretations of specific clauses in the sale purchase agreement and we determined which interpretation was appropriate.
| Expert Determination |
| Energy and Utilities | Post Acquisition Disputes | Provided an Expert Determination for two of Australia’s largest energy companies following the merger of their businesses and the demerger of their energy assets. The dispute related to infrastructure assets and the accounting treatment adopted for certain types of unbilled revenue in the completion accounts.
| Expert Determination |
| Health Care and Pharmaceuticals | Post Acquisition Disputes | Acted as Independent Expert to quantify the losses allegedly suffered by a listed healthcare business following its acquisition of businesses operating in a similar industry. It was alleged that the vendor of the business had engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct in providing certain financial projections and financial information regarding the performance of the businesses.
| Independent Expert |
| Leisure | Post Acquisition Disputes | Engaged as an independent expert to provide an opinion as to the sustainable level of earnings of an Australian hotel business following its acquisition by an overseas business. The matters in dispute concerned the accounting treatment and valuation of certain liabilities, the accuracy of the completion accounts and the estimated earn-out payments.
| Independent Expert |
| Manufacturing | Post Acquisition Disputes | Acted as Consulting Expert to provide advice on key issues in a dispute, formulating questions for the Independent Expert and reviewing their draft report. The issues involved profits and reserves available for dividend distribution where the entity had prior year losses.
| Consultant |
| Transport | Post Acquisition Disputes | Engaged as Independent Expert by a global freight and logistics business in an International Arbitration dispute with the vendor of a group of Asian and North American-based sea and air freight businesses. The matter included quantifying alleged breaches of warranty claims involving a material adverse change in financial performance post-acquisition, the accounting for recovery of pre-acquisition debtors and the preparation of group completion accounts.
| Independent Expert |
| Telecommunications | Pre-Litigation Analysis | Advised a client on the risks associated with terminating a major technology supply contract, including assisting legal counsel and the client to assess the financial consequences of a termination, estimated damages, cash flows and sensitivity analysis.
| Consultant |
| Environmental Services | Pre-Litigation Analysis | Reviewed the report of a forensic expert in relation to a potential insolvent trading claim following the collapse of the environmental solutions business. We provided guidance as to the preferred approach to determine the solvency or insolvency of the company and prepared a critique of the expert's report.
| Independent Expert |
| Construction and Industrials | Professional Negligence | Prepared an expert report on the appropriateness of the accounting for long-term construction contracts by a company, now in liquidation. The report was in the context of a claim of professional negligence against the audit provider and included comparison to the applicable accounting standards.
| Independent Expert |
| Financial Services | Professional Negligence | Assisted an international law firm in a claim of professional negligence against its client relating to a US$2.2 billion Collateralised Debt Obligation (CDO). The work included the development of a financial model reflecting the operation of the CDO under different legal interpretations.
| Independent Expert |
| Financial Services | Valuations | Appointed by a global financial institution, as an independent expert, to assess the fair market value of an Australian based life insurance business following its acquisition by a global financial services institution. The vendor of the business was disputing the allocation of sale proceeds made under s338 of the Internal Revenue Code to the Australian entity.
| Independent Expert |
| Energy and Utilities | Valuations | Instructed as Independent Expert to assess the fair market value of a large energy infrastructure business following its disposal to an investment fund. The transacted price of the business at the disposal date was disputed by a number of former shareholders.
| Independent Expert |
| Materials - Agriculture, forestry, paper, chemicals and building materials | Valuations | As Independent Expert, we quantified the loss claimable under a fidelity insurance policy pursuant to the fraudulent sale of a business by an employee to a related party.
| Independent Expert |
| Manufacturing | Valuations | Prepared an Independent Expert report discussing the valuation of licences and patents related to the invention of a component of motor vehicle engines.
| Independent Expert |