Australia’s aggrieved billionaires have done so much for our legal community over the years with their prosecution and patronage of some of the biggest legal battles our country has ever seen. Here’s looking at you Kerry Stokes.

So it only seems fair that our learned friends return the favour when one of our rich-listers runs into trouble with their hired help.

Last year, billionaire Clive Palmer won a rare – by his standards – legal victory in the Supreme Court of Queensland. The downer was that it was against his former solicitor Sam Iskander who had allegedly stolen tens of millions of dollars from Palmer’s private company Mineralogy since 2016.

Justice Melanie Hindman awarded Mineralogy $28 million and described Mr Iskander’s conduct as “the most egregious” case that Queensland has seen, at least according to Mineralogy’s statement.

This being Palmer, the matter was never going to end with the delivery of the 15 one-kilogram gold bars which had apparently been purchased using some of the allegedly defrauded funds. Or, the seizure of multiple properties which Palmer had inadvertently funded via the alleged fraud.

According to the most recent financial accounts of Mineralogy, which reported that Palmer’s mining royalties plunged to just $257 million last year, the billionaire is also now seeking compensation from the state’s Fidelity Fund.

The Legal Practitioners’ Fidelity Guarantee Fund, to give it its full name, is a compensation scheme that reimburses clients who have lost money or property due to a law firm stealing or dishonestly misusing their trust funds.

“Court proceedings against Mr Iskander (now a bankrupt) and companies under his control (now in liquidation) have been commenced and a claim has been made on the Fidelity Fund conducted by the Queensland Law Society for misappropriation of solicitor’s trust moneys,” Mineralogy says in its financial report.

And while it states that the “final outcome of the recovery action is uncertain ... the potential recovery is estimated to be in the vicinity of $40.3 million (with interest accruing), depending on the ability of Mineralogy, the liquidator and trustee in bankruptcy to recover the assets of Mr Iskander and companies including moneys and assets transferred to related parties of Mr Iskander.”

Given the court only awarded Palmer’s Mineralogy $28 million from last year’s court battle we can only assume the Fidelity Fund is expected to really cough up some compo for our billionaire.

“Claims made against the fund are confidential and information about individual claims cannot be provided,” a Queensland Law Society spokesman said.

Palmer’s legal team were obviously too busy battling in court to get back to us on how this bonanza works, but we wish him luck. Those Quixotic political campaigns don’t pay for themselves, we guess.

** “Our hero”: Aussie swimmers social media shout to Gina Rinehart**

After dominating the Commonwealth Games in the pool, Australia’s medal-winning swimmers have broken ranks and started to praise their supreme leader – sorry, billionaire backer – Gina Rinehart, in cringy social media posts.

Prior to the games beginning, Rinehart, a long-time supporter of Australia’s elite swimmers, announced she would pay athletes $20,000 if they won gold, $15,000 for silver, $10,000 for third and $5000 to each member of a gold medal-winning relay team.

The swimmers were told to button their lip and not spruik their generous private sponsor during the Games by the Commonwealth Games Australia organisation, a directive first revealed by this masthead.

However, with the Games now over, the floodgates have opened and some of the stars of the Australian team have waxed lyrical about the mining giant’s deep pockets.

“Some people change lives without ever stepping onto the podium or competing,” Kyle Chalmers gushed on Instagram.

“Mrs Rinehart is one of the true Australian greats... Mrs Rinehart, thank you for believing in Australian athletes and for investing in our dreams. Your impact reaches far beyond our medals. I’ll never take that support for granted.”

Freestyler Sam Short commented of Rinehart: “She is the reason the team is in its best spot ever.”

Elijah Winnington dived in with a social media shout out.

“With the Commonwealth Games officially over I’d like to take this opportunity to especially thank our sports biggest supporter… Mrs Gina Rinehart and Hancock Prospecting,” he wrote.

“Her ongoing support is truly appreciated and I personally am extremely grateful. She has single-handedly changed the lives of countless Australian swimmers over so many years.”

Kai Taylor also acknowledged Rinehart as did Flynn Southam, who described her as “Our hero”.

The dominance of the Dolphins, as the Australian swimming team is known, means Rinehart is on the hook for more than $1.2 million in medal payments, but we are sure she can afford it – after all she is estimated to be worth $39 billion.

Fear not, Dave Brat is on the way

David Brat, the former Republican congressman – and economist/theologian – has been waiting for the US Senate to sign off on his appointment to be Donald Trump’s ambassador to Australia.

It’s been a long time coming. Trump only nominated Brat in late April, 15 months into the job. But his name is on a list of 74 nominees set to be approved en bloc this week, before the long summer recess.

That means he should be in Canberra in time for the 75th anniversary of the ANZUS treaty on September 1. Of course, much like our own, the US Senate is a law unto itself, so anything could happen.

Meanwhile, Brat is making the most of his time in the US. CBD’s spies spotted him enjoying the first day of last week’s Mubadala DC Open tennis tournament in Washington.