Peter Charles Pritchard Farris, the former director of Northern Star Resources, was sentenced yesterday following a court case instigated by an ASIC investigation.
Mr Farris received a fully suspended sentence of two years and nine months imprisonment, and was fined $65,000 by way of a pecuniary penalty order.
He also agreed to forfeit the amount of the loss he avoided by trading at the time and manner he did, according to a statement by ASIC.
The sentence comes after Mr Farris pleaded guilty in October 2014 to two counts of insider trading relating to the sale of 750,000 Northern Star shares between 28 and 29 November 2012 (although he disputed the facts of the matter).
A court hearing in May 2015 found Mr Farris traded when he knew the information he possessed was inside information, said ASIC.
Mr Farris traded prior to an ASX announcement by Northern Star on 30 November 2012 that revealed its major shareholder, InvestMet Limited, had conducted a sell-down of its shares.
Mr Farris, who was a director of Northern Star and InvestMet at the time of the announcement, avoided a loss of $123,975 as a result of the trades, said ASIC.
ASIC Commissioner John Price said insider trading “harms market integrity”.
“The law has high expectations of people in positions of trust such as company directors, who receive price-sensitive information.
“ASIC has the people, the systems and the power to take action against this misconduct,” Mr Price said.
