A FORMER Macquarie trader has pleaded guilty to share market manipulation / news.com.au Source: news.com.au

• Trader allegedly inflated company’s share price
• Company eventually collapsed in 2008
• Trader pleads guilty to market manipulation

A FORMER Macquarie Equities senior client adviser is to face the Supreme Court of Victoria for sentencing after pleading guilty to charges of market manipulation.

Newton Chan, of Balwyn in Melbourne’s east, is alleged to have influenced the share price of Bill Express Ltd through hundreds of transaction between May 2006 and March 2008.

Chan pleaded guilty to eight charges of market manipulation contrary to the Corporations Act and one charge of providing false or misleading information to ASIC in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Friday.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) alleges Mr Chan used a number of trading accounts held by individuals and entities with Macquarie Equities to buy over 34 million Bill Express shares worth over $6.1 million.

The electronic payments company collapsed in 2008 with $250 million in debt, Fairfax reports.

These transactions created, or were likely to create, an artificial price for the stock, ASIC alleges.

Mr Chan was banned by ASIC in August last year from providing financial services for five years.

He is due to appear for a plea hearing in the Supreme Court of Victoria on June 21.

THE corporate watchdog has obtained orders from the Supreme Court to stop former Macquarie Bank Portfolio Manager Oswyn De Silva from leaving or attempting to leave Australia.

Mr De Silva, 36, a resident of the United Kingdom, was also ordered to surrender his passports to the court, the Australian Securities and Investment Commission said.

ASIC said it applied for the orders as part of its investigation of Mr De Silva’s trading activity between 2006 and 2007.

The watchdog did not specify the nature of the investigation or the alleged offences.

On March 1 of this year Mr De Silva attempted to leave Australia from Perth but was stopped by the Australian Federal Police, ASIC said.

On March 8 Mr De Silva pleaded guilty to a charge of being in contempt of the court’s orders and his sentence hearing has been listed for 15 March 2010.

The restraint orders will continue until Monday 15 March 2010 when the matter returns to court.

news.com.au