Guilty plea after current, former Eroad staffers charged with insider trading
The unnamed defendant has been charged with being an information insider.
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Hawke’s Bay
An individual today pleaded guilty at the Auckland District Court to one charge of insider trading in Eroad shares following an investigation by the Financial Markets Authority.
The markets regulator charged one former and one current employee of the company, which markets technology for electronic monitoring of vehicle fleets, in March on insider trading charges under section 243 of the Financial Markets Conduct Act. The charges today related to being an information insider advising or encouraging another person to trade.
That defendant will be sentenced at the Auckland District Court on June 13.
The FMA has agreed to withdraw two obstruction charges under section 61 of the FMA Act.
FMA’s general counsel, Nick Kynoch, says it was satisfied with the outcome. “While obstructing the FMA is treated seriously, in this instance we have achieved our regulatory objectives with the defendant’s guilty plea to insider trading.”
The charges were filed in relation to trading in shares of Eroad.
The FMA alleges that an Eroad employee sent text messages to a former Eroad employee that contained confidential material information relating to Eroad’s performance in the period to September 30, 2015. That individual then traded 15,000 Eroad shares.
The other defendant faces one charge of insider trading under s241 of the Financial Markets Conduct Act – namely, information insider must not trade. That defendant is yet to appear before the court.
The court today made an interim name suppression order until an application for permanent name suppression has been determined. For permanent name suppression to be granted, the court must be satisfied that publication would cause extreme hardship.
The company has suspended the employee.
Chairman Michael Bushby said last month the company was considering civil claims against both individuals charged.
The investigation and charges followed a referral from the NZX in November 2015.
Staff reporter
Tue, 11 Apr 2017
Tue, 11 Apr 2017
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Guilty plea after current, former Eroad staffers charged with insider trading
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