Bank of Queensland : On The Record - BOQ Responds to A Current Affair

Monday, 16 July 2018

BOQ understands the anger and frustration of the former clients of Mr Sherwin who lost money as a result of Mr Sherwin's fraudulent actions. Mr Sherwin is now rightfully in jail. BOQ, while not responsible for those losses, sought to resolve the class action by agreeing to pay $6 million towards the $12 million settlement that the Federal Court deemed to be fair and reasonable and in the interests of the class action members. DDH Graham contributed the remaining $6 million to the settlement.

There is nothing in the terms of the settlement that excludes class members with claims prior to March 2010 from participating in the distribution because of the statute of limitations. BOQ does not have any control over how the settlement sum is to be shared among Mr Sherwin's former clients, which must be approved by the Federal Court.

BOQ was unaware of the fraud until the Sherwin Group collapsed in 2013, as apparently his own auditors were unaware.

It is also important to note what the judge was referring to when he described the settlement as 'the worst settlement in terms of returns to class members that I've seen...'. The transcript shows the judge was not critical of the $12 million settlement amount, rather his comments were directed to a concern about how much of the proposed settlement sum would go to the lawyers (Quinn Emanuel) and litigation funder (Vannin).

There is ongoing legal action before the Federal Court to determine what should be the proper and fair amount of costs and commissions Quinn Emanuel and Vannin should be permitted to deduct from the settlement. BOQ has no involvement in that dispute.