The Commonwealth Bank and a US-based not-for-profit organisation that has sued the bank are seeking to reach an out-of-court settlement. The legal action is linked to an Australian criminal case involving allegations that former CBA IT executives accepted kickbacks.
The Ace Foundation is a not-for-profit corporation that NSW Police have previously alleged was used to channel kickbacks to former CBA employees Jon Waldron and Keith Hunter. The duo are accused of accepting money in return for awarding contracts to software company ServiceMesh.
In May 2015, the Ace Foundation sued the bank, accusing it of freezing funds that it had forwarded to Waldron and Hunter for work they would perform on behalf of the not-for-profit.
(Computerworld exclusively revealed earlier this month that the Ace Foundation has resurfaced as the CoreTech Foundation in an attempt to seek some distance from the ‘distractions’ of the Australian criminal case. No criminal charges have been laid against Ace Foundation officers and the organisation denies any wrongdoing.)
The US lawsuit was filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court.
The action against the bank was last month removed from the Los Angeles Superior Court to the federal US District Court after an application by lawyers representing CBA.
The bank was due this week to present its response to the Ace Foundation complaint.
However, Computerworld can reveal that lawyers representing both parties have applied for an extension to the bank’s deadline for responding to the complaint.
The two parties have jointly applied for an extension to 3 March for the bank to file.
The parties are currently negotiating a potential agreement that will see the lawsuit dismissed. A draft agreement is understood to have been circulated.
In Sydney yesterday a brief Local Court hearing saw the criminal case be held over until 3 March.
A civil case launched by the NSW Crime Commission in the NSW Supreme Court against the two has also been held over until March.