Alleged inside trader refused bail

Bail for a Canberra man accused of being involved in a seven-million dollar insider trading racket has been refused.

Soon, Australians will be able to file their taxes on mobile phones
Police opposed bail on the grounds that Christopher Russell Hill is a flight risk.
He was remanded in custody and will be extradited to Victoria to face charges.
Hill - an Australian Bureau of Statistics employee - is accused of using mobile phones registered under false names to pass on sensitive market information to Lukas James Kamay who worked at the National Australia Bank.

Hill, of the northern Canberra suburb of Belconnen, faces five charges - conspiring to engage in insider trading, aiding and abetting insider trading, receiving a bribe as a Commonwealth official, abuse of pubic office and dealing in proceeds of crime.

He hasn't yet entered a plea.

In a 18-page statement of facts presented to the court, police said the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) first received a complaint on February 18 from Pepperstone Financial about suspicious foreign exchange derivative trading from an account held by Kamay.

That related to a number of trades immediately ahead of release of ABS data. On each occasion, there was movement of the Australian dollar which produced a profit.

Two days later another firm AxiCorp also identified suspicious trading. On February 21, ASIC and the AFP launched an investigation.

Hill started with the  ABS in January 2011, working as a technical statistics expert preparing reports on the labour force and employment. Kamay worked for NAB in Melbourne on the foreign exchange desk but was not involved in trading of derivatives.

The AFP said covert inquiries showed Hill and Kamay were Facebook friends and studied at Monash University at the same time.

In April, police observed the pair meeting in Melbourne and travelling to an Optus store where Kamay purchased two pre-paid phones in the name of an NAB client.

During this meeting, police legally monitored conversations in which they allegedly discussed insider trading, how to avoid suspicion, past and planned payments and new communication arrangements.

They also allegedly discussed future ABS announcements, planning to make five profitable trades and five at a loss so their win-loss ratio was normalised.

Kamay allegedly told Hill he would give him about $60,000 in the end.

Police said inquiries with Pepperstone and AxiCorp revealed trading on 23 days between September 12 and May 8, making $2,509,776 profit on March 13 alone.

On each day, trading coincided with release of ABS data.

Federal agent Pamela Damokas told the ACT Magistrates Court $9950 cash was found hidden in anovernight bag in Hill's wardrobe when police searched his home.

Police also found three mobile phones and hand-written notes relating to ABS data. When questioned, he provided no comment answers on advice of legal counsel.

He's been remanded in custody to appear in Melbourne Magistrates Court on Monday morning.

 


Share

3 min read

Published

Source: AAP


Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world