Enforcement: ASIC charges former broker with market manipulation
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has charged former Melbourne broker Newton Chan with eight counts of market manipulation.
ASIC alleges that Chan manipulated the share price of Bill Express Limited (known as BXP) while employed as a client adviser at Macquarie Equities Ltd.
ASIC's case is that, between 3 May 2006 and 26 March, Chan used "a number of trading accounts held by various individuals and entities with Macquarie Equities Ltd to purchase more than 34 million BXP shares, worth over AUD6.1 million through hundreds of transactions. ASIC alleges these transactions created, or were likely to create, an artificial price for BXP."
But, according to ASIC, there was a supporting pattern of dishonesty: "Chan has also been charged with falsifying order records by entering false names in Macquarie Equities’ electronic ordering system during this period and with providing false or misleading information to ASIC during an examination."
BXP subsequently went into administration. The case was referred to ASIC by the Australian Securities Exchange.
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