PwC Partner Pleads Guilty to Insider Trading

By Michael Foster, Big4.com Blogger

A PwC consultant based in Australia has pled guilty to insider trading and will be sentenced for illegally profiting on insider information.

The consultant, Nicholas Glynatsis, pled guilty to charges that he made AUS$50,000 by illegally making trades based on insider information. He traded shares and derivatives based on his information as a consultant for the Big4 firm in his name and in the names of relatives. The profits were earned throughout a period spanning 2009 and 2010, and was laid off from the Big4 firm in early 2011.

Glynatsis was subject to a insider trading investigation by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission, after the consultant learned of six takeover deals that would impact the value of several publicly traded companies.

In Australia, insider trading carries a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment and fines as high as AUS$450,000. Glynatsis will be sentenced by the New South Wales district Supreme Court on Friday, October 26th.