Vlad the Impaler is used to dealing with problem gamblers … Brody Clarke’s betting plunge … $10 million of client’s money goes to the horses, allegedly … Who will make good the loss? … Time to change channels 

According to reports in the blatts Brody’s gambling may have been the problem. 

Documents before the Local Court in Sydney allegedly show that Clarke persuaded or manipulated Deutsche Bank to transfer $6.9 million from Birketu into his Westpac account between August and September 2017. 

Another $2.8 million was allegedly moved into his private account between August 2016 and June 2017. 

Last year Clarke was sacked by the law shop and in October surrendered himself to police. He has been charged with eight counts of obtaining a financial advantage by deception.  

He has been bailed on a $5,000 surety. Supreme Court proceedings brought by Birketu are underway against Clarke, Westpac, Betfair, Sportsbet and Tabcorp. 

Atanaskovic Hartnell blames Deutsche Bank, saying it acted in “an apparently negligent fashion” by transferring the money to Clarke’s account at Westpac. 

Clarke also had stints at Ashurst, Macquarie Bank, J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs. 

It is understood Atanaskovic Hartnell’s shop does not operate a formal trust account yet it explored the prospect of making a claim on the fidelity fund. Money from the fund would not be available to the firm in this instance. 

There are no reports of Bruce Gordon’s companies taking action against AH over the alleged fraud by one of its lawyers. We got an ambivilent response from the Law Society in answer to our question whether the society would send in an investigator to a firm in this position with the prospect of appointing a receiver? 

“We are statute barred from saying anying about investigations or disciplinary matters.” 

Does this suggest there is an investigation about which it cannot say anything? 

John Ljubomir Atanaskovic (aka Vlad the Impaler) and Bruce Gordon’s interests have had a long history. He acted for Birketu in relation to a shareholder guarantee and a joint venture bid for the Ten Network with Lachlan Murdoch’s interests. 

He also acted for WIN on an affiliation agreement with Ten and on the acquisition from Southern Cross of a northern NSW regional TV broadcaster. 

He was there for WIN on its sales of Channel 9 in Perth and Adelaide and on the renewal of WIN’s program supply arrangements with Nine, the acquisition of Australian international cricket rights, plus proceedings on behalf of WIN regarding live internet streaming of TV content. 

This is not the first time John Atanaskovic has had to deal with the fallout from a colleague’s gambling-related disaster. 

He was at the heart of Allens when the Adrian Powles’ crisis hit the firm in 1992. More than $20 million of clients’ money under Powles’ control, principally belonging to the Republic of Nauru, had gone missing. 

When the balloon went up Atanaskovic was instrumental in persuading the Law Society not to appoint a receiver to Allens. Barrister Geoff Lindsay had advised that the society was obliged to appoint a receiver in these circumstances, but this was overruled by advice from Barry O’Keefe QC that a compromise deal could be hammered out. 

Dyson Heydon advised that the fidelity fund was not liable to make a payment because the money was not in a trust account but under Powles’ management. 

To cover the worse case scenario Westpac, the firm’s old client, give Allens a line of credit for $10 million with a further $10 million coming from partners’ profits, deposited into a bank account at the rate of $300,000 a month. 

It wasn’t long after that Atanaskovic and Tony Hartnell left Allens and set up their own shop. 

We asked John Atanaskovic for an interview but have not heard back at the time of publishing.