Mediation talks between two parties linked to Sonray Capital Markets (Sonray) has moved a step closer to a possible resolution.
In a letter to creditors of the collapsed broking firm, dated 9 August, Sonray liquidator Ferrier Hodgson said a settlement agreement was “under consideration” by the legal teams of Saxon Bank A/S and HLB Mann Judd.
“The terms of the proposal are confidential. We will advise [creditors] as soon as the terms are agreed or the mediation is concluded,” the letter said.
The liquidators have been working on the terms of a proposed deed of settlement with the assistance of the Investor Advisory Group, the letter said.
Last month, the liquidator said mediation talks have been held with representatives from Sonray, Saxo Bank A/S, HLB Mann Judd, and an Investor Advisory Group comprising Andrew Lythgo, Richard Seaborn, Daniel Faigen and representatives from Arnold Bloch Leibler and Slater & Gordon.
At the time, Ferrier Hodgson representative George Georges said the parties recommenced mediation talks on 14 June and discussions concluded with a proposal from Saxo Bank A/S and HLB Mann Judd being left open for further consideration.
Meanwhile, former Sonray managing director Russell Johnson has paid liquidators more than $700,000.
“A contribution has now been received from Mr Johnson in the amount of $725,000,” the letter said.
Johnson’s payment comes a month after former Sonray founder and chief executive Scott Murray voluntarily paid $199,116.15 to liquidators.
Murray is currently in prison awaiting sentencing after he pleaded guilty to six counts of false accounting involving fictitious deposits of $36,439,588 and US$9,779,395.25, and false withdrawals totalling $7,800,923.
He also pleaded guilty to two counts of theft totalling $2,256,500, one count of obtaining a financial advantage by deception, and one count of misleading an auditor concerning a capital injection of $5,200,000.
Murray faces a maximum of 10 years’ imprisonment on each of the false accounting, theft and deception charges, and the offence of misleading an auditor carries a maximum term of five years’ imprisonment.
