Former directors of Opes Prime Stockbroking Laurie Emini and Anthony Blumberg have pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court of Victoria yesterday to charges brought by ASIC.
Emini pleaded guilty to two charges of dishonestly using his position as a director of Leveraged Capital with the intention of gaining an advantage for Riqueza Holdings or himself, one charge of recklessly failing to exercise his powers and discharge his duties as a director of Opes.
Blumberg admitted being guilty of one charge of using his position dishonestly with the intention of gaining an advantage for himself or someone else.
The case against Julian Smith, who was also a director of Opes and Leveraged Capital, has been adjourned for trial in the Supreme Court on 11 April 2012.
In March 2008, Opes Prime was placed in administration and receivers and managers were appointed. Opes Prime had more than 650 active client accounts and creditors were owed approximately $630 million when the company collapsed.
In August 2009 the Federal Court approved the Schemes of Arrangement. These schemes are expected to deliver a sum of $253 million to creditors. Dividends exceeding 37 cents have been paid by the scheme administrators.
