20 months for Macquarie Equities adviser
A former Macquarie Equities client adviser has been jailed on market manipulation charges.
Newton Chan was sentenced in the Supreme Court of Victoria to a term of 20 months imprisonment following an Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) investigation into the manipulation of the share price of Bill Express Limited (BXP).
The sentence follows Chan's guilty plea to eight counts of market manipulation and one count of providing false or misleading information to ASIC.
The investigation revealed that between May 2006 and March 2008 Chan used a number of trading accounts to purchase more than 34 million BXP shares, worth over $6.1 million, via 904 separate transactions.
It was accepted that the transactions created or were likely to create an artificial price for BXP.
He was ordered to serve four months immediately, before being released on a recognisance release order.
On the charge of providing false or misleading information to ASIC, Chan was sentenced to five years imprisonment - but the term was incorporated in the total sentence of 20 months due to the defendant's early guilty plea.
In sentencing Chan, Justice T Forrest made a specific reference to the importance of maintaining fair and transparent markets.
"I consider that it is only by the imposition of such a sentence that others considering manipulating the market in some way will pause to think about the potential consequences of their actions," said Justice Forrest.
On 20 August, Chan was banned by ASIC from providing financial services for a period of five years. BXP is now in liquidation.
Recommended for you
Net cash flow on AMP’s platforms saw a substantial jump in the last quarter to $740 million, while its new digital advice offering boosted flows to superannuation and investment.
Insignia Financial has provided an update on the status of its private equity bidders as an initial six-week due diligence period comes to an end.
A judge has detailed how individuals lent as much as $1.1 million each to former financial adviser Anthony Del Vecchio, only learning when they contacted his employer that nothing had ever been invested.
Having rejected the possibility of an IPO, Mason Stevens’ CEO details why the wealth platform went down the PE route and how it intends to accelerate its growth ambitions in financial advice.
