Oslo District Court has sentenced a journalist to four months in jail for a case of illegal insider trading.
The journalist has been convicted of buying shares in Simrad Optronics ASA, after receiving inside information from a former broker.
The journalist was acquitted of having sold his shares in the Norwegian Oil Company ASA (DNO) after an article about this company in the online newspaper, Nettavisen. In January 2006, Nettavisen published a negative article about the DOM and the journalist was responsible of this article that time.
He was also acquitted of having urged his father and a broker, who sold a great number of DNO shares before the negative article. His father was also charged with illegal insider trading.
Acting senior public prosecutor Thomas Skjelbred stated that “Insider trading threatens the confidence of the market. This threatens a well-functioning business sector, and so, our welfare society. We are not satisfied with the fine and will consider the appeal”.
