Ann: ASIC update, page-10

The Ann is brief...the following appeared yesterday in SMH and gives some detail of what's eventuating...I believe this can only be good that everyone involved in the "Gravy Train" will end up in jail and for once ASIC is moving with speed...they as well as Macquarie need to mend their reputations (if possible)
I also believe that is why the SP went up yesterday and hopefully the bleeding will slow /stop..

Nuix rocked by insider trading allegations againstformer executive

By Kate McClymont and Adele Ferguson

June29, 2021 — 7.32pm

The recently sacked chief financial officer ofNuix, Stephen Doyle, along with his brother Ross and father Ronald are thesubject of a criminal investigation into insider trading and dealing with theproceeds of crime over Nuix shares.

On Tuesday, the corporate regulator took emergencyaction to stop Ross Doyle, 49, from leaving the country stating that theybelieved he would not return if allowed to depart for Switzerland.

Former Nuix CFO Stephen Doyle. His penthouse wassearched by Federal Police after ASIC obtained a travel ban on his brotherRoss.CREDIT:

An affidavit filed with the court by ASIC insupport of this action reveals that the brothers are accused of insider tradingin Nuix shares during the period of 22 January to 12 February 2021.

During this period, Stephen Doyle, 50, is allegedto have passed on to his brother Nuix’s expected poor performance, whichallegedly led Ross to sell 1.8 million Nuix shares which he held in an accountof Black Hat, a company set up in Singapore on 24 November 2020, just beforethe prospectus was released. Nuix provides the software platforms thatregulators, police investigators and tax officials around the world use to runhighly sensitive investigations.

Black Hat was established two weeks before Nuix’sstellar debut on the Australian stockmarket on 4 December with the sharesoffered at $5.31 each. By 22 January the shares had almost doubled in valuehitting a peak of $11.86.

But the half-yearly results on 26 February includeda profit downgrade causing the share price to plummet by 32 per cent. Furtherdowngrades followed.

Following a series of revelations by The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Australian Financial Review, the Nuix share price has plunged to record lows, trading at less than half its issue price and slashing the value of the company by $3 billion since its January peak. Nuix has posted two earnings downgrades, terminated Stephen Doyle as CFO by mutual agreement and accepted the resignation of CEO Rod Vawdrey.

An affidavit filed by ASIC states that in the fiveweeks leading up to the company’s disastrous half year results, Ross Doyle sold2 million shares in Nuix for $17.8 million, saving them more than $5.7 millionif they had been sold on the day the half year financial results were released,which saw the shares fall a whopping 32 per cent.

Stephen Doyle is also accused of communicatinginside information to his brother, who then allegedly acted on the informationand proceeded to sell 200,000 Nuix shares in his own account on 5 February.

The affidavit said it believed Stephen Doyle had afinancial interest and was a beneficial owner of the Black Hat account andstood to benefit from tipping off his brother to sell the shares. “I believe hewas one of the beneficial owners of the 200,000 Nuix shares in the Ross Doyletrading account,” the affidavit says.

Stephen Doyle, as CFO of Nuix had “significantvisibility” into Nuix’s financial performance and “procured” his brother toaction the share sales, the affidavit says.

It says in that role he should have known that itwould have a material negative effect on the share price and by selling theshares before the February 26 profit announcement, the brothers managed toavoid a “material loss.”

The maximum penalty for insider trading is 15 yearsimprisonment.

The ASIC affidavit also indicates that a separateinvestigation is underway into the prospectus Nuix lodged for its InitialPublic Offering last year which is alleged to contain false and misleadinginformation.

The corporate regulator is also looking at possiblecontraventions of the Corporations Act in relation to three years of Nuix’sfinancial statements lodged with ASIC.

The Doyle brothers will be examined by ASIC thisweek.

On June 27, days after the raid by ASIC and theAFP, Ross Doyle applied for a travel exemption to return to Switzerland,indicating he wanted to return home as he had been “stuck in Australia.” Theapplication was denied. The affidavit said ASIC planned to examine him thisweek.