Steel & Tube Holdings Limited

Steel and Tube pleaded guilty to 24 charges of misleading conduct and false representations in connection with its “seismic grade” steel mesh products known as SE62 mesh. The company misled consumers by representing that the mesh had been tested and complied with the relevant standard, and that it had been tested independently, when it was not. In the District Court, the company was fined a total of $1,885,000. Following an appeal to the High Court, the fines were increased to a total of $2,009,280. A subsequent appeal to the Court of Appeal, resulted in a reduction of the total penalty to $1,560,000.