Ex-investment manager Rodney Forrest sentenced to six years imprisonment
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The news: Former investment manager Rodney Forrest has been sentenced to six years imprisonment for insider trading relating to shares in Platinum Asset Management.
The context: The Federal Court in Sydney sentenced Forrest to five years for insider trading and two years for procuring others to trade. One year of the procuring offence will be served cumulatively with the insider trading offence.
In 2024, Forrest accessed the computer of the chair of Regal Partners without permission and photographed takeover documents. He then traded, and procured others to trade, in Platinum shares and leaked details of the deal to the media. Forrest made over $300,000 in profit.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) said this was the first outcome for the watchdog’s “new specialist insider trading team”.
What they said: In handing down his sentence, Justice Robert Bromwich said: “This was serious and pernicious offending”.
“Mr Forrest ... obtained the Pitch Deck deliberately and dishonestly ... what then followed in relation to the use of that information was plainly premeditated, even if it cannot be known how far in advance,” he said.
“Mr Forrest ... made a conscious choice to do something he knew was wrong, dishonest and illegal," he said.
"The whole point of the insider trading prohibition is ... to maintain the integrity of the market by creating and maintaining a level information playing field.”
ASIC chair Joe Longo said insider trading was a priority for the watchdog.
“Mr Forrest’s actions were a brazen breach of trust and exploitation, and his imprisonment today reflects the seriousness of his crime,” Longo said.
The source: ASIC
