Warminger appeals High Court ruling

Former Milford Asset Management portfolio manager Mark Warminger is appealing a High Court decision that he manipulated the market twice in 2014.

Monday, April 3rd 2017, 4:12PM

According to sources, Warminger, who was found to have misused his position with an institutional investor to trade shares not for a genuine commercial purpose but to increase their market price so that he could then transact significant off-market sales at a greater profit, filed an appeal last Friday.

Last month, Justice Geoffrey Venning found against Warminger in relation to his trading in Fisher & Paykel Healthcare and a2 Milk Company shares.

He was found in both cases to have manipulated the market by increasing the offer quote and price for the shares and maintaining them at a higher level than would otherwise have been the case.

The trades created a misleading impression of the price of the shares on the day.

Justice Venning had sought submissions about the penalty the court should impose, which were to be filed within 20 working days of the March 3 judgment. The maximum penalty for a breach of the law is the greater of the consideration for the transaction, three times the amount of gain made or loss avoided, or $1 million.

FMA chief executive Rob Everett previously said about the case, “Market manipulation threatens our core objective of promoting fair, efficient and transparent financial markets. For investors to participate confidently in our markets we need to target and respond to misconduct. That is what this case was about. In terms of the broader consequences for conduct within our markets, we need to review and fully consider the judgement before making further comment.”

Tags: Market Manipulation

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