insider trading

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-11-14/businessmen-to-face-new-insider-trading-trial/4370970

Two to face new trial over Adultshop trading
Updated 2 hours 13 minutes ago

Two Perth businessmen, John Kizon and Nigel Mansfield, have lost a High Court appeal against facing a new trial into charges of insider trading.

The pair was charged with trading in millions of shares in Adultshop.com in 2002, based on information not available to the public.

It is alleged the information came from the managing director of Adultshop.com and related to dramatic increases in turnover and profit.

In the original trial, the prosecution admitted a jury could not be convinced beyond reasonable doubt that the information was correct.

The businessmen argued they could not be accused of insider trading if the information was objectively false.

Their lawyers argued the two men traded shares based on intelligence that turned out to be untrue, so therefore they were not liable to be held to account.

The trial judge found a person could only commit insider trading if the information was correct, and acquitted the pair

But, the High Court today has unanimously ruled that is not the case, and insider trading on false information is still a breach of the law.

The ruling clears the way for a re-trial in the case.