Two people have been sentenced to unconditional prison terms for insider trading in the Oslo Børs-listed company Aker Horizons.
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The two people bought shares in Aker Horizons the day before the company announced a collaboration with the Japanese giant Mitsui, according to two separate judgments from the Oslo district court.
The announcement of the collaboration contributed to the share price of the renewables company Aker Horizons rising sharply on Oslo Børs.
The two people bought the shares on the advice of a person who worked at Aker Horizons, according to the verdict.
The person had told them that there would soon be positive news from Aker Horizons, and that they should therefore invest in the company.
The two were sentenced to five months and 45 days in unconditional prison respectively. In addition, just under NOK 486,000 and NOK 26,000 are confiscated respectively.
Last week, Dagens Næringsliv mentioned the one sentence.
Bought for millions
The two people made an unreserved confession in court on Wednesday last week. Both have accepted the verdict. They received a full reduction in their sentence for having made unreserved confessions.
The shares were bought on 23 March last year:
- One convict bought 80,950 shares for NOK 1.7 million and sold them again for just under NOK 2.2 million. The shares were sold as soon as the agreement with Mitsui became known. The profit amounted to almost NOK 500,000 in less than a day.
- The other convict bought 7,300 shares for just over NOK 159,000 and sold them again for just over NOK 199,000. The prize was just over NOK 40,000.
The case against the person who was employed by Aker Horizons is under investigation, prosecutor Lars-Kaspar Andersen in Økokrim tells E24.
The person is suspected of having illegally shared inside information and of having encouraged or recommended the convicts to carry out insider trading, according to a report.
The rush
Økokrim charged the two convicted persons in February this year.
Based on a transcript from an audio recording with a broker, it appears that it was urgent for one of the convicts to complete the purchase and that the person in question was to sell the next day, or the day after that, according to the judgement.
One convict’s lawyer, Rasmus Dannevig Woxholt, says that he has no comments on the case. He also says that the person in question has no comments.
– It is a confession and I have no comments beyond that, says Henning Harborg, who is the lawyer for the other convict.
E24 has been in contact with one of the convicts, who does not want to comment on the case.
– Aker Horizons is aware that two people have been convicted and that a former employee is under investigation by Økokrim for violations of the Securities Trading Act in connection with trading in the company’s shares, writes communications director Marianne Stigset in an email.
– Aker Horizons is not under investigation, but has assisted Økocrim in the investigation by making its resources available. The company takes its obligations towards the market and the stock exchange very seriously and has strict internal controls and routines in place to ensure compliance, she writes.
