It's been a while since there has been any activity in the long-running case of Fuji Xerox against former MD Neil Whittaker, Finance Director Devlin Bell, Ernst & Young and one of its partners EA Lang. In between there has been a change of Judge presiding and case hearings have resumed.
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| Approaching its third year, the case is racking up massive legal fees |
Justice Feutrill of the Federal Court has set August 17th as the date for a case management hearing in the case, to hear about discontinuance of 'Miscellaneous Action' filed by Fuji Xerox back in March 2020. This does not appear to imply the discontinuance of the other actions and cross-claims in the complex case where all the original defendants have filed cross-claims, making them plaintiffs along with Fuji Xerox.
The alleged 'accounting scandal' was famously cited by Xerox' largest shareholder, Carl Icahn, as a reason why Fujifilm's attempted $6 billion takeover of Xerox should not go ahead, which it ultimately did not. At the time, Fujifilm valued each Xerox share at around $38 - they have been trading at around $17.55 for the past few weeks.
Xerox recently appointed Steven Bandrowczak as CEO, following the untimely passing of John Visentin. Xerox Corp is not involved in the Fuji Xerox legal actions in Australia and New Zealand. Fuji Xerox changed its name to Fujifilm Business Innovation in April 2021. The cases before the Federal Court relate to an alleged $450 million 'accounting irregularity' for the 2015 and 2016 financial years, being an alleged overstatement of actual revenues.
