The founder of Opes Prime, Julian Smith, will face a 10-week trial on July 22 almost two years after two other founders were jailed for their role in the $680 million collapse of the failed broker.
Laurie Emini and Anthony Blumberg were jailed in 2011 after entering a plea bargain. Part of that deal included giving evidence against Smith, who has pleaded not guilty to two charges laid against him.
At the Supreme Court of Victoria today, Justice Lasry said the court would extend Smith’s bail and set the trial date after a series of delays. Smith did not attend the hearing.
The Opes Prime case was a scandal. Its collapse created havoc on the sharemarket when ANZ Bank and Opes Prime's other financiers, including Merrill Lynch, began selling down the broker's $1.4 billion securities lending portfolio to recover secured loans.
A quarter of companies listed on the ASX were caught up in the bloodbath, as the banks moved to rapidly sell out of their stock.
Creditors received 37 cents in the dollar after the Australian Securities and Investments Commission struck with ANZ and Merrill Lynch. In return, the regulator agreed to wipe the slate clean on all pending and future litigation against ANZ and Merrill Lynch.
ANZ spent four months investigating its securities-lending business, which had been responsible for billions of dollars in loans to securities-lending operators Opes Prime, Tricom Equities and Primebroker.
The review concluded: ''The gravity of the issues relating to the equity finance business should have been, but was not, properly brought to the attention of the chief executive and the board.''
The review recommended the sacking of eight people, the implementation of a new reputation risk framework and training for ANZ senior executives. An ANZ bank officer will be called as a witness.