Nah dude. As much as I want to believe that. I think the answer is much simpler. Old mate is a busted lawyer wannabe (as are most compliance bureaucrats) and his ego was dented when he didn't get the respect he thought he deserved. He may have been influenced by an OM report sent his way but under it all, this has always been personal. The issue with ASX is when they realised he had f**ed up, they should've fessed up rather than the demotion to policy and "cover up".
More so, shame on ASIC who were in the room and could see this trainwreck developing. They did their best to distance themselves but in the absence of evidence have still pursued civil penalties hoping they'll get through on the strength of their own supposition. Time for new ASIC to distance themselves from that era and do the right thing. This was always poison fruit.
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