LAWFUEL – The Legal Newswire – Mr Dean Scook, a Perth entrepreneur, and Mr Jeffrey Braysich, a former Sydney stockbroker, were on Saturday 10 November 2007 found guilty by a jury in the Perth District Court of 158
and 25 counts respectfully of market rigging, following an Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) investigation.
Mr Scook, 56, faced 159 charges (out of a possible 259 charges which included alternative charges) of creating, or doing something that was likely to create, a false or misleading appearance of active trading in Intrepid Mining Corporation NL (Intrepid) during January and
February 1998. Intrepid was later known as Cobra Resources NL and is now called Resource Mining Corporation Limited, a minerals exploration company focused on exploration for nickel, cobalt, copper platinum group metals and iron ore.
Mr Braysich, 45, was charged with 26 counts of creating a false or misleading appearance of active trading in Intrepid during February 1998.
Mr Scook used multiple accounts through several brokers as well as a pool of traders to effect the trading in Intrepid. Mr Scook was able to orchestrate the trading by monitoring the market
in real time. Unbeknownst to the brokers and the pool of traders, Mr Scook would arrange both sides of the transaction in order for a trade to be executed.
By trading in this manner, Mr Scook was responsible for over 50 per cent of the volume of reported trades in Intrepid shares in the period, including over 80 per cent of reported trades on some days.
Some of the charges against Mr Scook related to both wash trades and matched orders. Wash trades are transactions that involve no change in beneficial ownership of the shares traded.
Matched orders are orders arranged between associated parties to buy and sell shares that substantially match in price and volume. The law, then and now, stipulates that individuals who
engage in such conduct are deemed to have created a false or misleading appearance of active trading.
The charges against Mr Braysich all related to trading between two accounts that did not involve a change in beneficial ownership of the shares. Mr Braysich was Mr Scook’s broker at
Paul Morgan Securities.
The charges were laid following a referral from the Australian Stock Exchange and an investigation by ASIC. The matter was prosecuted by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.
The matter has been adjourned for sentencing on 16 November 2007. Mr Scook was remanded in custody and Mr Braysich was allowed bail pending sentencing.
