The Fin Review reckons Rene Rivkin is the fifth Australian convicted of insider trading and history suggests he could well do time.
Check out this list of the 213 people ASIC had jailed as at January this year: http://www.crikey.com.au/business/2003/01/21/20030121asicjailed.html
However, we can only find three convicted insider traders on the list as follows:
72. October 4 1996 - PR man Murray Evan Williams: 18 months periodic detention and fined $50,000 following insider trading charges in relation to the purchase of shares in Australis Media.
136. 17 September 1999 - Simon Gautier Hannes: executive director of Macquarie Bank got 2.1 years for insider trading on $2m of TNT securities and structuring withdrawals to avoid the reporting requirements under the Financial Transactions Act.
149. 14 April 2000 - Kenneth John Firns: 14 months for insider trading in 1995 of mining company Carpenter Pacific Resources NL. Conviction and sentence quashed on 22 May 2001.
Whatever the numbers, Rivkin will certainly rate in ASIC's top 10 in terms of "Big Fish". This is how we rate the ASIC top 10. Let us know what you think. It's hard to knock Bondy off from number one but Rivkin would have to be more visible than most of the others on this list. All up, ASIC's record is certainly mixed as the list is dominated by the "Nambucca Heads financial planner" types as most of the big corporate crooks have got away with it over the years.
CRIKEY'S BIG FISH RATINGS OF SUCCESSFUL ASIC PROSECUTIONS
1. Alan Bond 2. Rene Rivkin 3. Richard and Reuben Lew 4. Simon Hannes 5. George Adler 6. Doug Reid 7. Peter Mitchell 8. Garry Carter 9. Robin Greenburg 10. Alan Hodgson
Other notables include: Ray Lord, Peter Foster, Bevan Crowley and Katy Boskovitz.
