Australian banker jailed for a year for insider trading

An Australian banker has been jailed for at least a year for insider trading that netted him 1.43 million Australian dollars (1.04 million U.S. dollars).

Oliver Curtis, 30, was convicted for making illicit trades based on confidential information provided by his high-school friend, a former Orion Assets employee, John Hartman for 13 months between May 2007 and June 2008.

Hartman, who executed trades on behalf of Orion, sent Curtis messages directing him to buy or sell particular stocks for a particular number of Contracts For Difference (CFDs) at specific times.

The sentence was welcomed by Australia's securities regulator as a reinforcement of its efforts to pursue complex trading cases no matter how long they take.

"My message to the market as always is that ASIC will continue to take strong enforcement action against those that conduct insider trading to make sure that our markets are fair, orderly and transparent," Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) chairman Greg Medcraft told reporters in Sydney on Friday after the sentence was handed down.