ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact
A 12-year-old investment banker has felt the full force of the law this afternoon as he was given a non-custodial suspended sentence in Brisbane.
Graham John Petersen, of New Farm, was found guilty of insider trading in June and received his sentence today in front of his friends, family and colleagues from Brisbane-based investment fund, Hinze Palmer & Bjelke.
While his mother openly wept in court, victim impact statements were read out.
A representative from the Australian Stock Exchange explained that this sort of crime undermines the public’s trust in institutions like the share market.
In July 2021, Mr Petersen’s father allegedly heard Qantas executives in the airline’s Brisbane airport Chairman’s Lounge that the compnay was going to bottom out around $4.80 a share, which proved to be incorrect. Nevertheless, the court alleged Mr Petersen made a trade on that advice, which is illegal. Alarm bells were raised when Petersen liquidated his holdings when the share price broke the $5 barrier, netting his firm over $600.
Fearing the court would make an example out of him, Mr Petersen’s parents arranged for senior counsel to represent their son. In the end, he received a heavy sentence.
“Adult time for adult crime,” said Justice Megan Gybyn.
“Let this be a warning to all children working in investment banking. You are not immune to the heavy hammer of the law.”
Justice Gybyn expalined to Mr Petersen that should he come before her court again, he will be going to gaol.
“I won’t hesitate in sending you to Palen Creek Correctional Centre, where you will do hard time working on their chilli farm and taking nice bushwalk in the Border Ranges. You have been warned.”
The Advocate reached out to Mr Petersen for comment have yet to receive a reply.
More to come.
