ASIC testifies in Oliver Curtis insider trading trial
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission decided not to pursue potentially hundreds of illegal trades by John Hartman after he agreed to co-operate.
The NSW Supreme Court heard on Tuesday there were potentially hundreds of trades that may have formed the basis of charges against Mr Hartman, but at one point there were internal discussions about laying only five insider trading charges against Mr Hartman.
ASIC lawyer Robert McAlpine told the court there was a "desire to resolve the issue relatively quickly" in relation to Mr Hartman's charges.
Oliver Curtis and partner Roxy Jacenko during the trial. Ben Rushton
"At the meeting Mr Hartman's attitude was he would cooperate and give evidence against Mr Curtis," Mr McAlpine said.
Mr Hartman, 30, has appeared as the key witness in the trial of his former best friend Oliver Curtis.
Mr Hartman was convicted of insider trading and received a 10 per cent discount on his jail in return for a promise to testify against Mr Curtis.
Mr Curtis, 30, is facing a criminal jury trial after he pleaded not guilty to a charge of conspiring with Mr Hartman to make $1.4 million.
Mr Curtis has never been convicted and he has never been charged with any other offence.
The corporate watchdog also chose not to recover some of the profits Mr Hartman made through his own insider trading, including the $150,000 Mr Hartman lent to his father and a $200,000 bonus he received from his employer Orion Asset Management while manipulating the company's trading data.
The NSW Supreme Court heard on Tuesday there were potentially hundreds of trades that may have formed the basis of charges against Mr Hartman. Daniel Munoz
Mr Curtis' barrister, Murugan Thangaraj, SC, described the $200,000 bonus as "bonus fraud".
The court heard Mr Curtis also disclosed to his employer Transocean his trading activities through Encounter, the CMC Market account he used for trading contracts of difference.
Mr Curtis' wife and high profile publicist Roxy Jacenko was watching from her usual seat in the public gallery. Mr Curtis' father, the former chairman of rare earth miner Lynas Corporation, was also observing from the public gallery.
On Wednesday morning a BlackBerry representative from Canada is due to give evidence via video conference call to provide information about the phone's "pinning" system.
Last week, Mr Hartman testified Mr Curtis allegedly told him in order to recover the conversation on the pinning system they would have to "pull the satellite out of the sky".
The hearing continues before Justice Lucy McCallum.
Subscribe to gift this article
Gift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.
Subscribe nowAlready a subscriber?
Latest In Politics
Fetching latest articles