Court hears of Waterhouse bias claim
The Age
Tuesday June 23, 2009
AN INDEPENDENT expert relied on by former Merrill Lynch client David Waterhouse has been accused by counsel for the broker of acting as an advocate for Mr Waterhouse rather than providing the court with independent evidence.Under a day of questioning from counsel for Merrill Lynch, Paul Anastassiou, SC, options trader and broker Andy Semple acknowledged that 10 years ago he acted as a broker to Mr Waterhouse's wife and carried out trades on her behalf.The accusations emerged yesterday as part of the Victorian Supreme Court case between Berndale Securities, a subsidiary of Merrill Lynch, and Mr Waterhouse's How Trading. Berndale is suing Mr Waterhouse's company for $9 million of accrued losses built up following his options trading activity.Written evidence by Mr Semple, who is a director of options trading company Andika, was that Berndale could have completed an ASX-approved auction between January 14 and January 15 to close out Mr Waterhouse's account once it fell into default.In court, he said Berndale's methodology for closing the account was not prudent and proper. Mr Anastassiou challenged that, saying evidence from Merrill Lynch key executives, including Merrill Lynch trader Jason Ryan, showed no negligence on their part. The account was not closed out for several months.He said that despite their evidence, Mr Semple had maintained his line."You have sought in this, in the evidence you have given to his honour, to advance the defendant's case rather than provide independent opinion and evidence." Mr Semple denied the allegation.Mr Semple acknowledged that 10 years ago Mrs Waterhouse was his client. He had advised the account on options and he said the account was in her name but Mr Waterhouse was authorised to trade on her behalf.The case continues this morning.
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