One rule for the big boys and one rule for the little guys.
“Is there any intent to put some of these guys that manipulate markets in jail as a deterrent. I mean there’s a lot of white collar crime that goes on in the ASX and insider backhanders and things like that?
We did launch proceedings a couple of months ago against four individuals for pump and dump behaviour – users of a site called telegram – we were able to get the evidence and criminal charges were made.”
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And there you have it – when the little guy engages in criminal behaviour they get charged (rightly so) but yet when Macquarie Bank engage in market manipulation they get a slap on the wrist in the way of a monetary fine that is around 1% of their yearly net profit. This is despite being warned six times by ASIC about suspicious trading.
It’s just another example of how the Government protects the big end of town.
It turns out the four people who were charged made $88,000 amongst the four of them. This is nothing compared to the millions Macquarie earned yet not one staff member was criminally charged.
It reminds me of when I studied Tax Law at Sydney University one of the lecturers told a class once that the big boys don’t break the law, they make the law and then went on to show a number of sections in the Tax Act that were colloquially known as Westfield or Macquarie provisions.
This is similarly to the tax office that goes after the small guy for a $200 questionable deduction but totally ignores the big players and their massive avoidance schemes.
White collar crime is rife in Australia. If I get another six years in the Senate I intend to go after the gangsters that are ripping hard working Australians off.
Quote from:
https://www.capitalbrief.com/briefing/asics-asx-pump-and-dump-case-blocks-individuals-from-telegram-trading-103f6241-6b0e-42dc-9761-458e0053eb90/
Economics Legislation Committee
07/11/2024
Estimates
TREASURY PORTFOLIO
Australian Securities and Investments Commission
Senator RENNICK: My question is in regard to Macquarie Group. They were hit with what is described as a $5 million penalty by the Markets Disciplinary Panel for attempting to manipulate energy markets. Do you think that the $5 million penalty was enough for Macquarie Bank, given that they’ve also been fined on other occasions for improper behaviour?
Mr Longo: That penalty was imposed by the Markets Disciplinary Panel, and it’s important to remember that, in paying the penalty, there was no admission of wrongdoing. I just make that clear for the record. But the size of the penalty and the circumstances in which it was imposed were really matters for the Markets Disciplinary Panel. As we said at the time, it was one of the most significant penalties the panel had ever imposed. What happened there, as I’ve said on previous occasions—and indeed the panel itself said—was serious. There was a failure to take on board ASIC’s warnings. There were issues with marking the close and the way they were conducting themselves—dealing with the trades they were putting on. It is a significant penalty.
Senator RENNICK: A $5 million penalty—their clients made a $4.2 million gain. When they make $3 billion, they’re out of pocket less than a million. Do you really think that is material enough? It’s not really sending a significant warning. Well, it’s a mild warning. But it’s not really a deterrent; that might be a better way of putting it. It’s not a significant enough deterrent to stop this behaviour happening again.
Mr Longo: It’s certainly very reputation affecting. My understanding—I don’t have it in front of me, but there were three entities that were taking advantage of the automated throughput processing of orders, and there was a failure by Macquarie to filter those orders. So there’s a question of how much profit Macquarie made by providing that service. I don’t think the panel decision goes to that level of detail. I wasn’t aware that we knew what profit those trading entities made.
Senator RENNICK: I’m quoting what’s in this.
Mr Longo: I don’t know whether Commissioner Constant can add to any of that.
Senator RENNICK: Is there any intent to start putting some of these guys that manipulate markets in jail, as a deterrent? There’s a lot of white-collar crime that goes on in the ASX, and insider backhanders and things like that. And I acknowledge you can’t regulate all of these because it’s just too much and you don’t have enough staff, but I would have thought it’s about time some of these guys started to get serious personal—
Mr Longo: We did launch proceedings a couple of months ago against four individuals for pump-and-dump behaviour. They were criminal proceedings, where we actually warned users of the site. It’s called Telegram, if my memory serves me. They went ahead anyway, and those charges were laid a couple of months ago now. So that’s classic market manipulation activity. We were able to get the evidence and we made a referral, and criminal charges were laid. There are several other matters that are before the civil courts at the moment. One—again I’ll go to a recent example, COFCO—involved manipulation of the weak futures market. That’s an action that we’ve launched. It’s going through the Federal Court at the moment.
So market manipulation, market abuse in general, has always been a priority area of enforcement for ASIC. But I think the committee will appreciate that establishing the evidence required to get up these cases is not straightforward.
Senator RENNICK: No, I accept that. Okay. Cheers, thank you.
