Lunchtime tip on Queensland copper find proves costly for CEO convicted of insider trading

A company director who bought $27,000 of shares for his superannuation fund after a luncheon which heard confidential information of a copper find in Queensland has been jailed for nine months for insider trading.

Darren James Lind, 47, was today sentenced in the South Australian District Court to 18 months’ imprisonment, though Justice Joanne Tracey ordered he be released after nine months on a $1000, three-year good behaviour bond.

Lind was convicted in August after a two-week trial of two counts of insider trading in shares in Minotaur Exploration nearly five years ago.

Justice Tracey decided against a home detention order, ruling that a jail term was more appropriate.

While noting that Lind had no previous convictions of any relevance, she told him “such good character is not uncommon in matters such as these, and it was your good character and status that enabled you to exploit the confidence placed in you by the Minotaur executives”.

She said there “has been no demonstration of contrition on your part, nor have you accepted responsibility for your offending”.

“Certainly your offending and its consequences will weigh heavily on your family but no more than what would be expected in a case such as this.

“Your offending certainly cannot be described as sophisticated, but nor can it be said to have been impulsive”.

Lind was managing director of the privately owned Golden Fields Resources, which was involved in a joint venture with Minotaur Exploration over the Sandy Creek copper prospect near Cloncurry in Queensland.

His trial heard that he and his wife attended a luncheon in Adelaide on Friday July 25, 2014 with Minotaur chief executive Andrew Woskett, executive director Antonio Belperio and chief geophysicist Andrew Thompson.

During the meeting, Lind was told Minotaur had struck significant copper mineralisation at Sandy Creek.

Despite being warned that the information was confidential, Lind texted his brother at 4.48pm that day to say: “I've just got home from a big meeting, could be on the brink of a world-class discovery”.

The following Monday, July 28, he spent $27,599.90 buying two tranches of 100,000 Minotaur shares at 13.5¢ and 14¢ a share via his superannuation fund.

Minotaur went into a trading halt two days later before announcing the copper discovery on July 31.

On August 1, Lind sold 140,000 of his Minotaur shares for 25¢ apiece, pocketing $34,958 for a profit of $7398.10.

“Both the amount that you invested and the profit you derived are relevant,” Justice Tracey said.

“While your investment and the profit that was realised were not insignificant, they were, I accept, very much less than seen in many of the comparative decisions concerning this type of offending”.

However, “such offending cannot be characterised as victimless and it is properly described as a form of cheating”, Justice Tracey said.

“Other traders did not have the same opportunity to profit as you did and, speaking more generally, such offending undermines the integrity of the market and brings with it a loss of faith in the system.”

Lind has appealed his conviction, with a hearing set for next month.