On 3 February 2014 during the FCC proceedings Post announced it had agreed to acquire PowerBar + Musashi from Nestlé with the acquisition expected to close in Post's Q3 2014 fiscal quarter ending 30 June 2014.

 

ROBERT VITALE CRIMINALLY CONCEALED POST'S VIOLATIONS OF U.S. ANTITRUST LAWS FROM SEC FILINGS

When Post agreed to acquire PowerBar + Musashi from Nestlé, Post became party to litigation against A-Sashi. And with the proceedings becoming protracted Post delayed the closing of the PowerBar + Musashi deal, to wait for the FCC proceedings to finalise so that the litigation revealing Post's violations of U.S. antitrust laws would be concealed from SEC filings.

 

On 1 July 2014 with the FCC proceedings not finalised Post announced a 6-month delay in closing the acquisition and entered into an amended stock and asset purchase agreement with the new closing date expected to occur in Post's Q1 2015 fiscal quarter ending 31 December 2014.

 

St. Louis Post-Dispatch business editor Lisa Brown reported the delay on 1 October 2014 by stating:

 

When Post announced its plans to purchase the PowerBar + Musashi brands, the company said it planned to close on the deal in Post's third fiscal quarter. However, Post's fourth fiscal quarter ended Sept. 30. Calls to Post and Nestlé about the delay were not immediately returned.

 

The plan of waiting for litigation to finalise to conceal Post's violations of U.S. antitrust laws failed when on 16 September 2014 in accordance with the Federal Court of Australia Act 1976 Christian filed an appeal commencing the Federal Court proceedings prior to the FCC proceedings finalising in Australia.

 

Post had an unconditional guaranteed buyer’s obligation under the 1 July 2014 amended stock and asset purchase agreement which stated:

 

The stock and asset purchase agreement for PowerBar + Musashi may be terminated by mutual consent of the parties and under certain other circumstances, including if the closing of the acquisition has not occurred prior to 3 November 2014.

 

The Post unconditional guaranteed buyer’s obligation became affected by the Federal Court proceedings resulting in the fraudulent finalisation of both the FCC proceedings & Federal Court proceedings (pre 3 November 2014) for Post to close the PowerBar + Musashi acquisition and to conceal reporting of the legal proceedings from SEC filings, and with Vitale able to cover up Post's violations of U.S. antitrust laws associated with the acquisition of PowerBar + Musashi.

 

Judge Nicholas Manousaridis (Manousaridis J) presiding judge of the FCC proceedings conspired with Justice David Yates (Yates J) presiding judge of the Federal Court proceedings and the Sydney Registry to fraudulently have the FCC proceedings displayed as finalised on the Commonwealth Courts Portal (CCP) from 17 October–28 October 2014 in sync with Yates J stopping the Christian appeal from commencing by guaranteeing a 42-day stoppage in the granting of the application for leave to appeal from 16 September–28 October 2014.

 

Post later dumped the PowerBar Australia assets and Musashi trademark at a loss of $40 million in the on-sell to Vitaco Holdings Limited (Vitaco) on 1 July 2015.

 

ROBERT VITALE'S CRIMINAL CONDUCT HAS NOT PAID OFF FOR SHAREHOLDERS

In November 2021 Post Holdings stock is a dog with fleas. The company’s bottom line has declined year over year and again missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by over 40%. In the past 2-years Post Holdings stock has consistently underperformed and at 1 December 2021 is down over 10% compared to 1 December 2019 and down over 20% in the past 6-months. First timer CEO Robert Vitale has driven debt to a new record level exceeding US$9 billion. With a market cap of US$6 billion the company is insolvent.

On 25 September 2014, 9-months after Court proceedings commenced, Peter Banki telephoned Christian and started the call with, “I’m Peter Banki James, that’s B,A,N,K,I.” Mr Banki went onto say he was currently speaking with his clients about giving Christian some financial compensation to end the trademark dispute and Christian would need to consent to orders BHF were seeking at a hearing the next day.

 

Mr Banki sent proposed bogus orders by email to Christian after the telephone call and at the hearing the next day BHF counsel tried to convince the Court Christian gave consent to Mr Banki.

 

BHF wrongly attempted to have the Court make extraterritorial orders in order to remove the a-sashi.com url and website. Mr Banki deliberately provided false information to the Court claiming Christian gave consent. Mr Banki’s attempt to have bogus court orders granted failed and the orders BHF sought were never granted.

 

In 2021 Mr Banki no longer practices as a trademark attorney with BHF and recently launched a new business named The Olive Rooms that is listed at the same address as BHF. Mr Banki claims he now focuses on using his experience to mediate disputes. The Olive Rooms website describes the BHF premises as “purpose-built premises for dispute resolution” and promotes “discounted room hire rates” with “natural light” and features an olive tree in reception.

 

Mr Banki’s misconduct and lack of expertise in settling his clients trademark dispute with Christian contributed to BHF no longer being listed as the legal representatives for Nestlé trademarks at IP Australia after 15+ years of representation.

On 16 December 2014, lawyer Julie Robb a partner at BHF, acting for Nestlé & Post, sent a settlement offer to Christian that was ignored (click to view the settlement offer).

 

BHF sought to cover up evidence of criminal conduct by having Christian give a “written undertaking” to discontinue the FCC proceedings & Federal Court proceedings and to never expose “the subject matter” of the proceedings.

 

Banki Haddock Fiora is no longer listed as the legal representatives for Nestlé trademarks at IP Australia after 15+ years of representation.

Manousaridis J, docket Judge of the FCC proceedings, was a former solicitor at Nestlé lawyers King & Wood Mallesons and a former partner at Post's lawyers Baker McKenzie who were acting for Post in its acquisition of PowerBar + Musashi from Nestlé, with the case being the first trademark matter ever heard by Manousaridis J.

 

The FCC proceedings interfered with the timing of closing the acquisition of PowerBar + Musashi and the Post unconditional guaranteed buyer's obligation agreement that stated:

 

The stock and asset purchase agreement may be terminated by mutual consent of the parties and under certain other circumstances, including if the closing of the acquisition has not occurred prior to 3 November 2014.

 

JUDGE MANOUSARIDIS CONSPIRED & CRIMINALLY INTERFERED WITH THE COMMONWEALTH COURTS PORTAL

Manousaridis J conspired to facilitate Post closing the acquisition prior to 3 November 2014 by fraudulently causing the FCC proceedings to be displayed as finalised on the CCP from 17 October–28 October 2014 in combination with Yates J stopping the Christian appeal from commencing in the Federal Court by Yates J conspiring to provide a 42-day stoppage from 16 September–28 October 2014 (in the granting of the application for leave to appeal) for Post to conceal the legal proceedings exposing violations of U.S. antitrust laws from SEC filings.

 

Christian sent an email with a screen-save attachment to the Sydney Registry raising the issue of the CCP fraud and received a reply email contradicting the CCP fraudulent finalised status and advising that the FCC proceedings were not finalised at that time with the Duty Registrar email to Christian stating:

 

"A check of our CCP from the Court Registry does not reveal that this matter has been finalised as at 17 October 2014. Our version of the CCP for this matter shows there is no finalised date."

 

Christian emailed the Associate of Manousaridis J, with a screen-save attachment showing the fake CCP finalised status and the Associate advised that the matter would be dealt with at a hearing listed for 19 December 2014. At the hearing on 19 December 2014 Manousaridis J stated:

 

"Don’t you worry about that Mr Christian, just worry about the orders I make."

YATES J FIXED A 42-DAY STOPPAGE FOR POST TO CONCEAL ANTITRUST VIOLATIONS FROM SEC FILINGS

To facilitate Post's 6-month delayed closing of the acquisition of Powerbar & Musashi and the fraudulent concealment of Court proceedings from SEC filings that revealed Post's violations of U.S. antitrust laws, Yates J conspired to fix a 42-day stoppage on a Christian application at the same time Manousaridis J fraudulently tampered with the CCP to show a fake finalised status of proceedings.

 

YATES J COMMITTED PERJURY IN COURT PROCEEDINGS

In a hearing while trying to cover up issues Christian raised about Yates J fixing a 42-day stoppage to facilitate a Nestlé and Post criminal conspiracy, Yates J nervously lied about co-authoring a book with Nestlé IP lawyers BHF partner Kate Haddock, with Yates J and Christian statements from the hearing transcript as follows:

 

YATES J: “I can stop you there, Mr Christian. I haven’t written a book with Ms Haddock. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

 

MR CHRISTIAN: “Okay.”

 

YATES J: “So you are mistaken.”

 

MR CHRISTIAN: “Well, I don’t know how to – I don’t know what else to say apart from, I’ve got a title here that has your name on it, David Markey Yates and Kate Haddock.”

 

YATES J: “I have absolutely no idea what that’s about. Would you like to tell me what the title is?”

 

MR CHRISTIAN: “Yes. The title is Trademarks & Passing Off. It was written – the publication was written in 1993.”

YATES J: “Who published it?”

 

MR CHRISTIAN: “It doesn’t say who the publisher is, but the book is at the State Library of Victoria and that your name, your Honour, and Kate Haddock are authors on the book.”

 

YATES J: “Well, it’s not me. I have written no book and I have written no book with Ms Haddock. There’s another D.M. Yates who practices in the area of intellectual property. I don’t know whether he is the person who is the author of that book with Ms Haddock. It’s not me.”

 

ON 3 NOVEMBER 2014 IN RESPONSE TO AN EMAIL FROM CHRISTIAN, THE OTHER LAWYER NAMED DAVID YATES (A PARTNER AT CORRS CHAMBERS WESTGARTH), STATED:

 

"No I am not the author of the book. And that will be the Judge."

 

ON 5 NOVEMBER 2014 AN EMAIL WAS SENT BY NESTLÉ AND POST IP LAWYERS BANKI HADDOCK FIORA TO THE CHAMBERS OF YATES J STATING:

 

"Mr Christian’s reference appears to be correct. Although Ms Haddock has no recollection of the event."

 

 

YATES J CONSPIRED TO PROVIDE A STOPPAGE IN THE PROCEEDINGS AND WAITED 8-MONTHS AND 2-DAYS TO DELIVER JUDGMENT.

 

The Yates J 8-month and 2-day stoppage gave Post time to dump the Musashi brand in a sell-off to a new entity named Vitaco Ltd which during the stoppage was able to complete a $332 million initial public offering (IPO), on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX).

 

 

THE FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2015/16 STATES:

 

“The Court has a goal of delivering reserved judgments within a period of three months.”

 

Nestlé & Post counsel in the proceedings, Stephen Burley, was later in 2016 appointed to the Federal Court of Australia as a judge in a job swap with his mentor Justice Annabelle Bennett (Bennett J) who heard matters in the proceedings before retiring from the court and returning to 5 Wentworth Chambers. Prior to the appointment of Bennett J to the position of judge in 2003, Bennett worked alongside Burley for 10 years both as barristers from 5 Wentworth Chambers.

 

Now retired Annabelle Bennett appears as an associate on the 5 Wentworth Chambers website (at age 75) together with (now retired) David Yates who also appears as an associate on the 5 Wentworth Chambers website.

To facilitate the fraudulent concealment of litigation revealing Post's violations of U.S. antitrust laws Vitaco CEO Ryan D’Almeida conspired to conceal the Musashi brand Court proceedings from the Vitaco IPO prospectus.

 

Mr D'Almeida completed the Vitaco IPO on the ASX on 11 September 2015 in breach of the Corporations Act 2001 for non-disclosure of the Court proceedings in the prospectus.

 

Seven months later on 21 April 2016 Sydney Morning Herald business editor Simon Evans stated:

 

“Vitaco goes from glamour stock to a puny weakling in just five months; and the Vitaco share price has halved since late November when it was sitting above $3. It has steadily fallen lower to a point where it is now hovering just above $1.50.”

 

In December 2016 Shanghai Pharma and private equity firm Primavera Capital acquired Vitaco and delisted the company from the ASX.

 

Mr D’Almeida was dismissed in February 2018 and went onto find work at the Lynch Group for 17-months before moving to Hive & Wellness Australia in October 2019.

 

To cover up Vitaco's breaches of the Corporations Act 2001 Bennett J conspired to make orders detailed below.

On 31 August 2015 Christian filed an application seeking the joinder of the new PowerBar + Musashi owners to be listed as parties to the Federal Court proceedings, due to the 24 August 2015 prospectus for the Vitaco ASX IPO listing new owners as Vitaco Health Australia Pty Ltd & Health Foods International Ltd.

 

Bennett J placed a stoppage on the Christian 31 August 2015 application by instructing the Sydney Registry to leave the Christian application unprocessed for 21-days. The stoppage provided time for the Vitaco J.P. Morgan & Citigroup joint led IPO to close on 11 September 2015 with the cover up of the fraudulent concealment of the Federal Court proceedings from the IPO (click here to view the application).

 

BENNETT J HEARD THE CHRISTIAN 31 AUGUST 2015 APPLICATION ON 21 SEPTEMBER 2015

At the 21 September 2015 hearing to facilitate the cover up of Vitaco's breaches of the Corporations Act 2001 for non-disclosure of the Federal Court proceedings in the prospectus for the IPO, and to facilitate the fraudulent concealment from the IPO of litigation revealing Post's violations of U.S. antitrust laws, Bennett J refused to join the correct parties, Vitaco Health Australia Pty Ltd & Health Foods International Ltd, to the Federal Court proceedings.

 

Instead at the 21 September 2015 hearing Bennett J ordered that Vitaco Health IP Pty Ltd, an entity not listed in the Vitaco 24 August 2015 IPO prospectus, be joined to the Federal Court proceedings, with that entity having been re-assigned the Musashi intellectual property ownership only 2-hours prior to the hearing.

 

Bennett J also conspired to instruct the Sydney Registry to not list the Christian 31 August 2015 interlocutory application on the CCP until after the closing of Vitaco IPO, and then for the application to be listed as directions on the CCP and not as an interlocutory application hearing.

 

Former Federal Court Judge Annabelle Bennett retired early from the Federal Court of Australia after providing fixed Court outcomes to 5 Wentworth Chambers former senior counsel Stephen Burley, (now Justice Stephen Burley), who acted for Nestlé & Post in both the FCC proceedings and Federal Court proceedings.

 

Annabelle Bennett returned to 5 Wentworth Chambers as senior counsel in a job swap with 5 Wentworth colleague Stephen Burley. And under the Judges’ Pension Scheme, Australian taxpayers now pay Bennett $20,000 each month for life.

Justice Stephen Burley (Burley J) prior to his appointment to the Federal Court practiced at 5 Wentworth and appeared for Nestlé and Post in the FCC proceedings and Federal Court proceedings, with Annabelle Bennett hearing matters in the Federal Court proceedings.

 

Burley J practiced at 5 Wentworth from 1993–2016 alongside David Bennett, former Solicitor-General for the Commonwealth of Australia and husband of Annabelle Bennett, and also with mentor Annabelle Bennett at 5 Wentworth from 1993 until the appointment of Annabelle Bennett to the position of a Judge of the Federal Court of Australia in 2003.

 

STEPHEN BURLEY SWAPPED JOBS WITH FORMER JUDGE ANNABELLE BENNETT IN MAY 2016

Annabelle Bennett returned to 5 Wentworth in 2016 with 5 Wentworth collegiality positioning Burley J to perform a complete job swap after conspiring with Annabelle Bennett to arrange fixed outcomes in the Federal Court proceedings for Nestlé and Post.

In the Federal Court proceedings on 18 November 2015 Justice Steven Rares (Rares J) heard an interlocutory application filed by Christian to stay two orders made by the Full Court on 4 November 2015.

 

To facilitate the Robert Vitale cover up of Post fraudulent concealment of violations of U.S. antitrust laws from SEC filings and Vitaco contraventions of the Corporations Act 2001 for non-disclosure of the Federal Court proceedings in the Vitaco prospectus for the IPO, Rares J conspired to exclude legal entities, owned by Post & Vitaco, from appearing as respondents when making orders.

 

JUSTICE RARES CONSPIRED

Rares J conspired to cover up Post's & Vitaco's criminal conduct by causing the third respondent (Premier Nutrition Corporation), the fourth respondent (Post Foods Australia Pty Ltd) and the fifth respondent (Vitaco Health IP Pty Ltd) not to be listed as parties in the Rares J orders and judgment dated 18 November 2015 (click here to view the email sent to the Duty Registrar).

CHRISTOPHER WEYMOUTH MISTAKENLY EMAILS CHRISTIAN

On 14 January 2015 Christian went to the Melbourne Registry for the High Court of Australia at 3.55pm to lodge a document but was told by Christopher Weymouth the Registry was closed and to return the next day. Sixteen minutes later at 4.11pm Weymouth sent an email to Sydney Registry staff members Lynne Donohoe and Rosemary Musolino that was mistakenly addressed to Christian.

 

From: Christopher Weymouth
Date: Wed, 14 Jan 2015 16:11:02 +1100
To: James Christian
Cc: Lynne Donohoe , Rosemary Musolino
Subject: Re: Proposed Application for Removal of matter no. SYG3214/2013

 

From memory, this man has been in several times. Last year.

I just turned him away at 4pm

Small world Lynne

Chris x

SUSAN KIEFEL DISMISSED THE CHRISTIAN APPEAL

On 17 November 2015 Christian filed an application for special leave to appeal to the High Court from orders made by the Full Court Federal Court proceedings on 4 November 2015.

 

On 7 April 2016 Justice Kiefel dismissed the Christian application and made orders as follows:

 

1. The proposed appeal does not enjoy sufficient prospects of success to warrant the grant of special leave. The application should be dismissed; and

2. Pursuant to r 41.10.5, we direct the Registrar to draw up, sign and seal an order dismissing the application.

Darcy Horn Davenport has served at Post’s Active Nutrition business since 2009 and conspired with Nestlé in 2013 to cause Arnet to cut supply of goods to A-Sashi by offering Arnet a supply agreement that now forms part of the Post third party facilities co-manufacturing supply model.

 

In 2019 Davenport was appointed President and CEO of Post’s spinoff of the Active Nutrition business into the BellRing Brands IPO taking in Post’s brands Premier Protein, Dymatize and PowerBar.

 

Davenport has seen BellRing Brands consistently underperform since the 2019 IPO and 2-years on at 1 December 2021 BellRing Brands stock is still valued at the 1 December 2019 price of $21 per share. Davenport is party to Post violations of federal antitrust laws and the fraudulent concealment of antitrust violations from SEC filings initiated by Post’s President & CEO Robert Vitale.

 

On 6 December 2021 Kaskela Law LLC announced that it is investigating BellRing Brands, Inc. (NYSE:BRBR) ("BellRing") on behalf of the company's shareholders. The investigation seeks to determine whether BellRing and/or the company's officers and directors violated the securities laws or breached their fiduciary duties to stockholders in connection with recent corporate actions, and whether BellRing shareholders have been harmed as a result of such actions. Kaskela Law LLC represents investors in securities fraud, corporate governance, and merger & acquisition litigation. For additional information about Kaskela Law LLC please visit www.kaskelalaw.com

In a letter sent by Adam Friedman to Christian dated 20 April 2020, Arnet denied conspiring and cutting supply to A-Sashi in stating:

 

“If Arnet did any business with any of these companies, those transactions were entirely coincidental; or perhaps the companies learned of Arnet during the course of your dispute. We were not bribed or otherwise incentivised to stop filling your orders.”