oh dear look at the sell depth for chm stacking up this is damming
Market rigger Braysich loses appeal against conviction
Rebecca Urban | October 17, 2009 Article from: The Australian
CONVICTED market rigger Jeffrey Braysich has failed in a bid to overturn the two-year-old verdict.
The Court of Appeal in Western Australia yesterday unanimously dismissed an appeal by the former stockbroker, who claimed that there was insufficient evidence for the trial jury to have convicted him beyond a reasonable doubt.
Braysich and Perth businessman Dean Scook were both found guilty in November 2007 on multiple counts of creating a false or misleading appearance of active trading in Intrepid Mining. Braysich escaped with a 12-month suspended jail sentence and was fined $24,000, while Scook was sentenced to three years' imprisonment, with 14 months to be served.
The verdicts followed a lengthy investigation by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission, with the charges against Braysich relating to wash trades -- trading between two accounts that does not involve a change in beneficial ownership.
In lodging the appeal, lawyers for Braysich claimed that the trial judge had erred in refusing to direct the jurors that they could not convict him of breaching the Corporations Act unless they were satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that he knew certain share transactions would create, or were likely to create, a false or misleading appearance of active trading.
They also argued that the judge had failed to adequately put the defence case in relation to whether there was a "change in beneficial ownership", and as to Braysich's knowledge of whether or not such a change occurred.
The three appeal judges rejected all five grounds of the appeal. In an 88-page judgment, Justice Michael Buss said none of the matters raised on Braysich's behalf precluded the jury's finding that he was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt on each of the counts in respect of which verdicts of conviction were recorded.
"The verdict of the jury was not unreasonable, and it is a verdict which is supported by the evidence," Justice Buss said.
The court's decision follows a failed appeal by Scook last year against the severity of his sentence. Braysich was a director of Paul Morgan Securities at the time the market-rigging offences occurred and Scook was his client.
These days Braysich is closely linked to Chameleon Mining, the resources minnow run by a former rugby league player, Benny Elias, that is embroiled in a legal dispute over mining tenements with Murchison Metals.
Mr Elias is a former client of Braysich's at his financial planning firm Saxby Bridge, and was once part of a marketing program that involved sporting identities promoting the merits of financial planning to the public.
Saxby Bridge Financial Planning, which is now in the name of Braysich's wife, is an investor in Chameleon and the two companies operate from the same office in Sydney.
A lawyer for Braysich did not respond to a request for comment yesterday
CHM Price at posting:
12.4¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
