A person has pleaded not guilty to a criminal charge for alleged insider trading.
Photo: RNZ / Patrice Allen
The Financial Markets Authority filed court proceedings against the person and another individual for illegally trading Pushpay Holdings' shares in 2018.
The person faces a criminal charge, while they and the other individual both face civil charges at the High Court in Auckland.
The proceedings centre on the resignation and subsequent sale of $100 million worth of shares by Pushpay Holdings director and co-founder Eliot Crowther in mid-2018.
The FMA alleged the person facing the criminal charge was aware of Crowther's impending departure and encouraged the other individual to trade the mobile payment company's shares in the lead up to the public announcement.
The other individual was also involved in the conduct, the FMA alleged.
In the Auckland District Court this morning, the lawyer of the defendant facing the criminal charge, John Dixon QC, entered a plea of not guilty, electing for a trial by jury.
The defendant was granted bail until their next court appearance on 22 June, for a Crown case review hearing.
Both individuals would keep their names secret for now, with a separate hearing to be held some time in May to determine whether they would receive ongoing name suppression.
The FMA's lawyer, Brian Dickie, indicated it would fight to have both individuals named.
Background
The Financial Markets Authority was alerted to the alleged insider trading by the stock exchange market regulator NZ RegCo in July 2018.
It was just the fourth insider trading case the FMA had encountered.
The financial watchdog said Crowther's trades were legitimate and Pushpay was not the subject of the investigation.
Insider trading involves the buying and selling of shares in a listed company by someone with access to material information about the firm that was not yet public.
Illicit trading behaviour can undermine market integrity and erode investor confidence.
Criminal insider trading carries a punishment of up to five years in prison or a maximum fine of $500,000.
Civil penalties could include a pecuniary penalty not exceeding the greatest of the consideration for the relevant transaction, three times the amount of the gain made or the loss avoided, as $1m in the case of an individual or $5m in any other case.