Two men have been charged with alleged market manipulation offences, with the corporate regulator claiming they enacted insider trading and attempted to manipulate the share price of mining company Quantum Resources.
Avrohom Mordechai Kimelman, former director of Quantum Resources (now known as Nova Minerals), and Don George Evans, of Inglewood WA appeared in Perth Magistrates Court on Friday.
ASIC has alleged that on 16 November 2015, Mr Kimelman and Mr Evans conspired with each other to manipulate Quantum’s share price, in contravention of sections 1041A and 1311(1) of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) and section 11.5(1) of the Criminal Code (Cth).
At the time, Mr Kimelman was a director of Quantum and Mr Evans did not hold a position within the company.
Mr Evans has also been charged with six counts of procuring the acquisition of a total of 1,500,000 Quantum shares while in possession of inside information and three counts of communicating inside information relating to Quantum to others.
ASIC has also alleged that between 5 to 6 November 2015, Mr Evans procured the acquisition of 1,500,000 Quantum shares while possessing inside information, in breach of sections 1043A(1) and 1311(1) of the Corporations Act.
The information was said to related to Quantum’s intention to take over an Israeli Information Technology company with a likely listing on the NASDAQ.
ASIC also claimed that, between 4 and 6 November 2015, Mr Evans communicated this information to others, in contravention of 1043A(2) and 1311(1) of the Corporations Act.
At the time of the alleged offences, market manipulation, insider trading and passing inside information each carried a maximum penalty of ten years’ imprisonment. But in March 2019, the maximum penalty for each of the breaches increased to 15 years’ imprisonment.
The matters are being prosecuted by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.
Both have been adjourned until 18 December 2020 for mention in the Perth Magistrates Court.
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