Die gute alte Adelong: Urteil - Craig Manners schuldig! - 500 Beiträge pro Seite

[Romy]

Die ganz alten Wallstreet-Online - Hasen erinnern sich bestimmt noch an den Adelong-Hype im Januar 2000. Das ganze Drama hat jetzt endlich seinen Abschluss gefunden:


Vic: Former director found guilty of talking up company`s shares

270 Wörter
10 Juni 2005
Australian Associated Press General News
Englisch
(c) 2005 Australian Associated Press Pty Ltd. All Rights Reserved

MANNERS (fixing name throughout)

MELBOURNE, June 9 AAP - A former company director was today found guilty of illegally talking up his firm`s share price before he sold his own stake, and shares owned by associates, to reap a $1.7 million profit.

Craig William Manners, a former director of the listed company previously known as Adelong Capital Limited, was found guilty of three counts of making false or misleading statements.

His nine-week trial in Victoria`s County Court ended today and evidence before the court had centred on an interview Manners, of Nunawading, gave a German journalist in early 2000.

The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC), which lead the investigation, said Manners had overstated the future prospects of Adelong - a venture capital company specialising in investments in technology start-ups.

The story was published on a German-based website - www.wallstreet-online.de - and the ASIC said it lead to a surge in Adelong`s share price in Germany and Australia.

Manners then sold his own and others` shares in Adelong.

[LosAmigos]

Wie ist denn das Strafmaß? Zwangskauf von 10 Mio Orchid-Shares zu 0,094?

Interessant, daß hier Wallstreet-Online namentlich erwähnt wird. Immer wieder das geeignete Medium um australischen Penny-Schrott zu hypen. Siehe zuletzt BKM, Orchid..

[LosAmigos]

Mich würde mal interessieren, welche ID`s `Bad Manners` in den aktuellen Orchid-Threads benutzt..

[Grootecrash]

Das war ein ziemlich schwarzes Kapitel!!!
Könnte heute noch kotzen!!!

Hasta

[Romy]

Irgendwie fehlten oben die letzten Zeilen aus dem Artikel:

"ASIC alleged that Mr Manners` net profit on his trading subsequent to the interview was at least $1.698 million."

Manners was acquitted on a further six counts of making false or misleading statements, and of nine counts of breaching his duties as a director.

He will appear for sentencing on July 4.

AAP dr/lb

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Das Urteil wird am 4 Juli verkündet. Jeder der 15 Punkte, in den denen er schuldig gesprochen wurde, kann mit bis zu 5 Jahre Gefängnis oder Geldstrafe oder beides bestraft werden.

Ich werde Euch auf dem Laufenden halten!

[Romy]

Hier noch ein etwas ausführlicherer Artikel:
---------------------------------------------
FINANCE

Bad Manners faces five-year jail term

NEALE PRIOR
540 Wörter
11 Juni 2005
The West Australian
STATE
75
Englisch
(c) 2005, West Australian Newspapers Limited

Ex-Perth broker guilty of misleading statements about technology outfit

Former Perth stockbroker and company promoter Craig Manners faces up to five years in a Victorian prison after being convicted on three charges of making false or misleading statements about his former technology play Adelong Capital.

A Melbourne County Court jury took three days to convict Manners, who now lives in the outer Melbourne suburb of Nunawading, of the three charges and acquit him of six similar charges. He was also acquitted on nine charges of breaching his duties as a director.

Manners was released on bail on Thursday evening after being convicted on three false or misleading statement charges, which each carry a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment.

Prosecutors are expected to push for him to be jailed for his offences when he appears before the court again on July 4 for sentencing.

All the charges arose from a probe into his trading in Adelong shares after he gave an interview to the German language trader and investor internet site wallstreet-online.de in January 2000.

Wallstreet-online.de was popular with German-speaking traders of Australian companies during the dotcom boom, particularly technology plays that had listings on the Australian and German exchanges.

Manners, the son of veteran company director Ron Manners, was a shareholder and director of the dual-listed Adelong at the time of the offences as well as working as a stockbroker at the Melbourne office of D&D Tolhurst.

The Australian Securities & Investments Commission said Mr Manners` statements during the wallstreet-online.de interview caused a substantial increase in the price of Adelong shares in Australia and Germany.

The watchdog claimed Manners subsequently sold shares and options for himself and his companies, realising a profit of at least $1.7 mi~llion on his post-interview trading.

He was charged over nine different statements allegedly made during the interview and with nine interlinked charges of abusing his position through his conduct.

The jury found he had made a false statement during the wallstreet-online.de interview that Adelong, a venture capital company specialising in investing in technology start-ups, was finalising 12 investments in internet start-ups.

He was also found guilty of a charge of making a materially misleading statement that Adelong would shortly be announcing a partnership with a US internet major.

And he was convicted over a materially misleading statement that a major US, Asian or European internet or venture capital group would take a stake in Adelong at a price of more than $US2 a share.

Adelong shares rallied from a close of 41<cents> on January 13 to finish at $1.45 on January 27, when the company called a trading halt and faced queries from the stock exchange about Manners` interview.

Adelong announced the resignation of Manners on January 31 and he is believed to have left D&D Tolhurst about the same time.

The stock exchange referred the case to ASIC and he was charged in February 2003.

ASIC also gained orders freezing $1 million of assets.

ASIC enforcement director Jan Redfern said the market moved very materially after the interview with Manners.

Dokument TWAU000020050610e16b0002x

[Romy]

Und so sieht nun der endgültige Ausgang des Prozesses aus: zwei Jahre auf Bewährung für Manners und 900.000 AUD Strafe, wie man den letzten Presseberichten entnehmen kann:
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(MI) Adelong Capital court action now put to rest

461 Wörter
4 Oktober 2005
Ralph Wragg Australian Business News
Englisch
Copyright 2005 RWE AUSTRALIAN BUSINESS NEWS PTY LTD. All Rights Reserved.

Sydney - Tuesday - October 4: (RWE Aust Business News) -

Mr Craig Manners today expressed relief that the court proceedings in relation to Adelong Capital had ended and the matter could now be put to rest.

"It has been a long and difficult five and a half years and, having been acquitted of 24 of the 27 initial charges, I am relieved that the vast majority of the allegations raised by ASIC were completely rejected by the jury," he said.

Judge White of the County Court of Victoria stated in his sentencing remarks that the jury had acquitted Mr Manners on all counts with any element of dishonesty or intent to gain.

Judge White rejected the prosecutor`s submission that Mr Manners knew the statements were false or misleading.

Judge White said the verdicts are inconsistent with dishonesty, therefore Mr Manners would be sentenced on the basis of "ought to have known" they were false or misleading.

He said that if the jury found Mr Manners knowingly made false or misleading statements, they would have found him guilty of dishonesty and intent to gain.

This was not the case.

In his remarks, Judge White acknowledged that Mr Manners had shown remorse by attempting to plead guilty to civil penalty offences but that these offers had been rejected by ASIC.

Judge White refuted ASIC`s comparisons between this and other high profile cases of recent times – he said that Mr Manners did not intend to gain advantage for himself and that Mr Manners` offence lacked any degree of serious sophistication.

Judge White stated that Mr Manners had cooperated with the authorities and that he had taken this into consideration.

It is viewed as important that Mr Manners was completely acquitted of all the charges that alleged dishonesty and intent to gain, and that Mr. Manners was additionally completely acquitted of all nine civil alternative charges of making improper use of his position as a director of the company.

The Jury`s verdict implies that three of the statements were either false or misleading but not that Mr. Manners knew that they were false or misleading. Rather, the verdict implies and the Judge sentenced on the basis that he ought to have known that they were false or misleading.

The jury found that in making these three statements there were no elements of dishonesty or intent to gain and found that Mr. Manners did not even breach his director`s duty in making the statements on either a criminal nor on a civil level.

"I am deeply regretful of the whole matter, which occurred almost 6 years ago during the euphoria of the dotcom boom. `

"I am relieved that it is now closed," Mr Manners declared.

Dokument AAPRAW0020051004e1a4002p9




GENERAL

Christian vow helps stockbroker avoid jail

NICK MILLER
533 Wörter
5 Oktober 2005
The West Australian
METRO
5
Englisch
(c) 2005, West Australian Newspapers Limited

Former Perth money man says missionary work will replace materialism

MELBOURNE

A former Perth stockbroker`s vow to "reject materialism" and dedicate his life to Christian missionary work has helped him avoid jail over a white-collar crime conviction.

But the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, despite claiming the case sent a significant message to company directors, will discuss a possible appeal over the sentence with prosecutors.

Craig Manners, 40, was sentenced in Melbourne`s County Court yesterday to a year`s jail, wholly suspended, after a jury found him guilty in July on three counts of making false or misleading statements about a company.

In January 2000, at the height of the technology boom, Manners told a German journalist the IT company he directed, Adelong Capital, was on the verge of several key international deals.

In the two weeks after the interview was published, Adelong`s stock price more than trebled and Manners made a $1.69 million profit by selling shares and options in the company.

In sentencing, Judge Bill White said Manners had been "clouded by gross avarice" at the time. But since then he had undergone a "total rejection of the materialistic and hedonistic lifestyle he was leading".

He was now studying at a theological college and planning overseas Christian missionary work with his wife.

Manners walked free from court yesterday, having consented to pay a $900,000 penalty under Federal proceeds of crime laws, which will leave him on the verge of bankruptcy. In his arms he carried his month-old son.

"We`re very emotional," he said immediately after the verdict, as he celebrated with his wife wit~h tears in his eyes.

Later, in a prepared statement, the son of Kalgoorlie mining veteran Ron Manners said he was relieved the jury had rejected most of ASIC`s original allegations.

"The jury had acquitted (me) on all counts with any element of dishonesty or intent to gain," he said. "I am deeply regretful of the whole matter, which occurred almost six years ago during the euphoria of the dotcom boom. I am relieved that it is now closed."

Judge White said he was not satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Manners had known his statements to the journalist were false, though he ought to have known.

This was based on an interpretation of the jury`s verdict, which found Manners not guilty of 15 other charges. Judge White looked at precedents from the trials of corporate wrongdoers Steve Vizard and Rodney Adler in weighing whether a jail term was appropriate. In particular, he quoted a judgment in the civil prosecution of Vizard that evidence of good character should play a minor role in sentencing.

Judge White said that before an ASIC investigation into Manners` actions in 2000 he had dedicated his life to competition and materialistic gain. "A letter to your father (in December 1999) ... reeked of self-congratulation," Judge White said. "Material gain was the be-all and end-all - scarcely in the spirit of Christmas."

ASIC`s deputy director of enforcement, Mark Steward, declined to say yesterday whether the commission was pleased or otherwise with the sentence.

Dokument TWAU000020051005e1a50005q