Insider trading sting: 24yo Australian Bureau of Statistics employee to face court in Canberra (ABC)

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A 24-year-old Canberra man will appear in the ACT Magistrates Court this morning charged over a $7 million insider trading scam.

It is alleged the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) employee shared information with friend Lukas Kamay, an NAB employee in Melbourne, to predict movements in the Australian dollar.

The charges laid by ASIC and the Australian Federal Police (AFP) include insider trading, money laundering and abuse of public office.

Authorities allege Kamay pocketed the majority of the $7 million windfall and will not specify how the pair communicated, although they say it was "regular" but "varied".

Authorities say they began investigating after being alerted to "suspicious activity" on the foreign exchange market between August last year and May this year.

Kamay faced the Melbourne Magistrates Court yesterday afternoon on seven charges and was released on bail.

ASIC will not specify how it became aware of the transactions, but says there are a range of ways it can be alerted to insider trading, including complaints, tip-offs and surveillance.

The AFP obtained eight warrants to search the NAB in Melbourne and the ABS in Canberra as well as private homes in both cities.

They seized a property, a motor vehicle and funds totalling about $7 million.

The NAB says it has terminated Kamay's employment while the ABS has suspended the 24-year-old worker, who it describes as "a relatively junior officer with trusted access" to information.

The two men attended Melbourne's Monash University together and police say it was during that time they struck up a friendship.

In an internal memo obtained by the ABC, the ABS told staff it is the first time ever that a staff member has been arrested for leaking data.

"Even though this is the first time in our history of more than 100 years that a staff member has been arrested for leaking statistics, it has the potential to tarnish our reputation as a trusted custodian of sensitive data," the memo said.

"We will undertake a thorough review to learn what we can from this incident. Fortunately, the police believe that no other ABS staff were involved."

http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/latest/23386093/insider-trading-sting-24yo-australian-bureau-of-statistics-employee-to-face-court-in-canberra/