A Sydney lawyer’s heist.

👋 G’day

Today’s brief:

• Sydney lawyer banned for $500k trust heist.

• NAB eyes HSBC’s $4.1bn retail business.

• Australian tech workers earn $20/hr more.

Here’s the latest 👇

PRACTICE POINTS

Fraud allegations hit Lazarus broker

• ASIC is investigating Dylan Curtis, a former senior broker at Lazarus Capital Partners, who’s been accused of some seriously dodgy dealings. Lazarus claims Curtis issued fraudulent invoices and funnelled client funds into his personal account between 2020 and 2023. Allegedly, he was altering payment details to redirect money straight into his own pocket. Curtis denies the allegations, arguing that the firm owed him “funds and equipment.”

• From July 1, the tax-free super cap will rise to $2m per person, thanks to inflation. And if inflation keeps pushing up, don’t be surprised if that cap gets another boost.

• ASIC invites feedback on the proposed remake of employee incentive scheme instruments [CO 14/1000] & [CO 14/1001]. ASIC plans to combine the two class orders into one legislative instrument and proposes to remake the exemptions for a period of five years.

• Ex-ANZ trader's whistleblower lawsuit hits a roadblock after the Federal Court rejected his bid to add fresh allegations. Federal Court judge Nye Perram criticised Mr Alexiou’s failure to explain why he wanted to add fresh allegations into his claim last year, since the matter has been running on-and-off since 2016.

WORD ON THE STREET

PwC leader steps down

• Big shake-up at PwC Sydney: Adam Lai, the managing partner who’s been with the firm for over 18 years, is stepping down. Word is he’s already got another leadership gig lined up.

• A Sydney lawyer’s $500k trust account heist has earned him a one-way ticket off the roll. After making regular $2k withdrawals from clients’ trust account, he’s now officially out of a job.

• A fake lawyer was prosecuted for giving unqualified legal advice over Airtasker – go figure.

• A national law firm fought against compensating an employee who alleged she was raped while attending a work event. The Tribunal found the firm not liable.

• In Victoria, Patrick Lennon is in hot water after sending 8 threatening text messages to barrister Dimitrios Podaridis. Why? Because Podaridis was set to give evidence against him in a separate proceeding over unpaid legal fees.

TALKING POINTS

Free public education for all

• The Greens are taking aim at school fees with a $10bn policy to make public education free. Under the plan, families would receive $800 per child to cover out-of-pocket costs.

• The president of the Asian Australian Lawyers Association calls out the legal industry for slipping backwards on cultural diversity, pointing to low racial diversity among law firm partners and ASX300 company boards.

• And that was fast. 24 states and cities are suing to block Trump’s move to end “birthright citizenship,” calling his executive order unconstitutional. The order targets automatic citizenship for children born to noncitizen parents, including those on temporary visas, as part of a broader immigration clampdown.

• Putin and Xi talked Trump and Ukraine. A day into Trump’s presidency, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping held a 90-minute video call, per Russian state media. The Kremlin said both leaders expressed interest in building ties with the US and signalled Russia’s “readiness for dialogue” on Ukraine.

TREASURY

DEAL ROOM

NAB eyes $4.1bn HSBC deal

• Looks like NAB is first in line for HSBC’s Australian retail business. If HSBC’s London HQ pulls the trigger on the sale, the Aussie arm, valued at over $4.1bn, would give NAB a major boost to its retail banking game.

• After its bid for Rio Tinto, Glencore is making it clear: it’s open to more M&A. Investor interest in mergers and acquisitions is ramping up, with copper leading the charge. Glencore is one of the world’s top three copper producers

• Hamilton Locke is at the top of the pile in Australian ECM, ranking first for both the highest deal count advising issuers and the highest deal count advising lead managers, according to LSEG.

• Guzman y Gomez’s post-IPO hype is under pressure with up to $2bn in shares eligible for sale after February results. Voluntary escrow agreements will partially lift, allowing major holders like TDM Growth Partners, Barrenjoey, and founder Steven Marks to offload stakes worth $530m.

• Scape is making moves in the $3.5bn auction for Brookfield’s Aveo senior living business, entering the second round with a fresh $700m backing from South Korea's National Pension System. With advice from Macquarie Capital and Deutsche Bank, Scape plans to submit a binding offer by March.

SECTOR SPECIFIC

J&J hit with asbestos claims

🚜 DIGGERS

• Liontown made around a US$20 margin per tonne mined at its Kathleen Valley project for the December quarter. With $16.7m in operating net cash flow, it’s the company’s first positive quarter where turnover actually outpaced outgoings.

• Santos is hitting pause on its $3.2bn Dorado oil and gas project. CEO Kevin Gallagher says the company will shift focus on creating shareholder value instead.

• Four anti-gas activists have pleaded guilty over their attempted protest at Woodside Energy CEO Meg O'Neill’s home after prosecutors agreed to drop the most serious charge. But one activist remains defiant: "I don’t regret my action, and I don’t take it back”.

• BHP’s copper shines as iron ore stalls. BHP’s copper output jumped 17% last quarter, stepping up where iron ore couldn’t. The miner’s bread-and-butter commodity stayed flat amid waning demand, but copper’s rally shows the shift toward critical minerals is paying off.

🏦 FIN

• ASIC is back on ANZ’s tail, this time for miscalculating interest on thousands of customer savings accounts.

• Morgan Stanley is dialling up bonuses for top-performing investment bankers in Asia, with some seeing hikes of up to 40%. Star bankers in hotspots like India and Australia are leading the charge, cashing in on a stellar revenue year, insiders say.

🏡 RETAIL & REAL ESTATE

• Johnson & Johnson is facing a new class action over its talcum powder. The lawsuit alleges the product was contaminated with asbestos and linked to reproductive cancers in women. Shine Lawyers are backing the lead plaintiff.

• The lawyers behind the Star fiasco? Meet Nikki Smythe from Clifford Chance, brought in by Star’s lenders to handle the mess. Smythe’s a restructuring pro, having advised on Virgin’s pandemic collapse. The lenders are also sticking with Gilbert + Tobin, the same firm advised the lenders when they committed $450m last year. As for what's next? Star’s management has officially lost the lenders’ trust, and there’s no appetite for more cash injections. Looks like this might be Star’s final hurrah.

• Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners locked in $722m in debt financing for the first two stages of Queensland’s Supernode battery. With a 520MW capacity, it’s one of Australia’s largest energy storage projects—supercharging the grid for the renewable revolution.

📱 TECH

• Linktree, the social media “link in bio” giant, is facing a lawsuit over alleged pregnancy discrimination, with the former exec claiming she was demoted and ultimately made redundant.

• Apple shares dropped 4.6% on Tuesday after analysts downgraded the stock, flagging weak iPhone sales and AI disappointment. Jefferies cited an 18.2% plunge in China iPhone sales last quarter, with global sales slipping 5%.

• It pays to be a tech bro. Australian tech workers are earning $20 more an hour than those in other industries. With a median hourly wage of $63.50, they’re pocketing 50% more than the $42.20 median in other sectors.

• Speaking of tech bros, President Trump announced a US$500bn (A$797bn) AI project with SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, and Oracle’s Larry Ellison at the White House. Oracle’s shares popped 6% on the news, capping a 56% surge over the past year.

P.S.

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