A documentary funded by former clients of Storm Financial (Storm) is not part of a ploy to place pressure on banking groups associated with the failed advisory group.
Levitt Robinson Solicitors and Attorneys principal Stewart Levitt told InvestorDaily the documentary, ‘Piggy Banks’ is a cathartic project for ex-clients and not intended as a form of pressure.
Levitt said the clients wanted “to tell their story”, something he said may never truly be told.
“To some extent, there is a perception that these people were greedy and they shouldn’t be given compensation,” he said.
“These people want their own reputation to be reflective of the actual role they played.”
Levitt said the documentary is also key as it portrays “an important incident in Australian history”.
“What this film does is attempt to distil the information in a form where it’s comprehensive and where all people understand it,” he said.
He said the documentary also dispels the perception that the collapse of Storm wasn’t “just [former Storm founder Emmanuel] Cassimatis and financial planners”.
When asked whether ex-Storm clients should receive compensation from a class action given they could afford a film, Levitt said the cost of the project was low.
“We got it done very cheaply and they just put in $250 each,” he said.
Asked whether he was concerned about receiving any backlash from any of the banking groups, Levitt said he wasn’t as a lot of the material shown has been provided as evidence at public hearings and inquiries.
“We’ve considered the issue,” he said.
“We’re dealing with historical issues rather than the [class action] case itself.”
Levitt directly represents more than 480 former Storm clients in a class action against banking groups Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Macquarie.
