Market manipulation charges
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has charged Newton Chan of Balwyn, Victoria, with eight counts of market manipulation.
ASIC has alleged that while Chan was a senior client adviser at Macquarie Equities he used trading accounts held with Macquarie Equities to purchase more than 34 million shares in Bill Express Limited. The company is now in administration.
These $6.1 million worth of transactions created, or were likely to create, an artificial price for Bill Express, ASIC alleged.
Chan has also been charged with falsifying order records by entering false names in Macquarie Equities’ electronic ordering system and with providing false or misleading information to ASIC during an examination.
The matter is listed for committal mention in March in the Melbourne Magistrates Court and is being prosecuted by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.
AUTHOR
Mike Taylor
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