ABS security breach prompts insider trading charges
In what represents an almost unprecedented breach of security within the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) have alleged an ABS public servant passed currency-sensitive information to an employee of the National Australia Bank (NAB).
The two men were charged by the AFP on Friday and it will be alleged that the security breach led to foreign exchange derivative trading activity which resulted in profits of around $7 million.
In a statement issued on Friday, the AFP and ASIC said the two men had been arrested following a joint operation looking at suspicious trading in foreign exchange derivatives.
It said authorities had discovered evidence that a 26-year-old NAB employee was receiving sensitive information from a 24-year-old ABS employee.
The AFP said it would be alleged that the 26-year-old man was obtaining this market-sensitive information before its official release by the ABS, then using it to enter into foreign exchange derivative products and personally profit from favourable movements in the prices of those derivatives.
It said this trading activity, occurring between August 2013 and May 2014, had resulted in profits of approximately $7 million which have subsequently been retained by the AFP-led Criminal Assets Confiscation Taskforce under Commonwealth proceeds of crime legislation.
The AFP and ASIC statement said that both the NAB and the ABS provided their full cooperation and assistance to police throughout the investigation.
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