Oliver Curtis’s trial and tribulations

Illustration: Peter Nicholson

Last week it was a fire in the court. Yesterday a juror got sick. Honestly, what next — a plague of locusts?

The insider trading case of biblical proportions that stars Oliver Curtis and his former best John Hartman was delayed again yesterday after one of the jury fell ill.

And on the day that Hartman was to take the stand at the St James Road Supreme Court trial. Come on!

The judge wasn’t at all precise about the cause of the trouble. We won’t be half surprised to find out it was the plague. Or ­leprosy.

Or whatever it was that caused so much trouble for Job.

Assuming the juror recuperates (and, putting on our serious hat for a minute, we hope that’s the case), Hartman’s court appearance will take place today — almost a decade after the alleged insider trading began with a trip to an Optus shop to buy a BlackBerry, as this paper’s court reporter put it so elegantly last week.

Supporting cast

One of the reasons the Oliver Curtis trial is so fascinating is the cast of supporting characters.

There’s Oliver’s irrepressible wife, PR queen Roxy Jacenko, who was in the front row at the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, hours before yesterday’s aborted day in court.

On the other side, there’s Edward Hartman, John’s brother, who was — until weeks before the trial began — the New York-based managing director at the boutique fund manager Cale­donia Investments.

He left the Mark Nelson-founded firm — which manages funds for the wealthy Darling, Nelson and Vicars families — in April.

Rest assured the departure is not at all related to proceedings at the St James Road Supreme Court.

Edward is moving to Memphis. The shift from NYC is nothing to do with a devotion to Elvis Presley, but rather the fact that his wife is from there. Sounds like a happy ending.

Pixie tags along

One of the odder characters on the periphery of the saga is a little girl called Pixie.

For years, we had been under the impression that she was some sort of handbag or clutch or girl-shaped accessory made by an avant garde German designer — but, no, it turns out she is a real person. Indeed, she is the daughter of Oliver and Roxy.

Pixie was along with her mother (who wore a red Gucci dress) in the front row of designer Toni Maticevski’s Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week show on Sunday, before her father’s case was to continue.

The mother and daughter pair sprayed their attendance all across their Instagram photodiary.

Is someone scripting this thing?

Campaign folly

We overclubbed. Big time.

Yes, Jeff Kennett’s former chief of staff John Griffin is going to be working out of the Liberals’ Victorian campaign offices in 104 Exhibition street, as we wrote on Saturday.

But, no, Lieutenant Griffin — a managing director at conservative lobbying outfit Barton Deakin — has not “usurped” Victorian president Michael Kroger.

President Kroger wrote to all Victorian division members on Saturday night to quash our excitement.

“The article in The Weekend Australian suggesting that John Griffin is overseeing the federal election campaign in Victoria is completely false,” he wrote.

Fair cop.

If you can believe the briefing from the highly sensitive 104, Griffin — a highly experienced political operator — is going to be “licking stamps”.

As to whether Liberal federal director Tony Nutt (who has worked with him for 30 years) will use him as a trusted set of eyes and ears in the Victorian bunker, we wouldn’t dare speculate on such amateur gossip.

Digital divide

Staying with Barton Deakin, the government relations and lobbying firm put out a note two weeks ago on “social media thought leaders” in Australia.

We’re told it is the most popular brief they’ve even put out — in part because apparently no one has even done it before.

Our pod neighbour Chris Merritt (legal editor) made the cut. Actually, lots of people at The Oz did. There’s David Crowe (political correspondent), Adam Creighton (spreadsheet fiend) and John Durie (legend), and on and on by the dozen.

In a sign of these fast-moving times, we also counted 10 people who have recently been let go from Fairfax Media.

So scan the list and snap them up — if you can afford them.

Oddly, though, there’s no sign on the list of two Digital Prophets of the Pyrmont Apocalypse, Fairfax CEO Greg Hywood and Alan Williams. Must have been an oversight.

Why, it’s important

We spotted ANZ chairman David Gonski in the lunch crowd at Sydney sushi den Azuma yesterday.

Whether discussion of his chief executive Shayne Elliott’s ongoing search for a chief financial officer was also on the menu, we couldn’t say.

Deputy CFO Shane Buggle remains the internal favourite — but there is a problem. The unorthodox spelling of his first name.

As was underlined yesterday, as Shayne Collins was appointed as the managing director of the bank’s infamous markets division, it’s best to pack a “y” over at ANZ.

For heaven’s sake, Buggle, get with the tymes.

Bob each way

It was once said of former Telstra chair Bob Mansfield: “He does not always emerge with the ball, but he’s one hell of a trier.” Who would disagree?

Mansfield, once the local boss of hamburger joint McDonald’s, is now among other pursuits the chair of Careers Australia Group, the latest Australian private training provider to get into financial trouble.

Yesterday, chairman Rob Sims’ Australian Competition & Consumer Commission docked Careers Australia (which is backed by UK-based private equity group White Cloud) $44.3 million for 12,130 incorrect student enrolments.

Mansfield is the latest high-profile corporate Australian to get caught up in the scandal-plagued sector. He joins the former chair of the IPO disaster Vocation (and once treasurer in the Keating government) John Dawkins and fellow former Labor cabinet minister Simon Crean, who in October fled the board of another teetering training provider, Ashley Services. We expect more to join their numbers.

Mansfield’s other recent inglorious investments include sports technology start-up PlayUp, which was put into liquidation in January. He was in good company there, too. Others who lost money in PlayUp included billionaire Bruce Mathieson, its former chair (and former NSW premier) Nick Greiner and our current Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull.