14 DAY TRIAL // An anti-coal campaigner sent a press release to journalists and media organizations in Australia purporting to be from ANZ bank and claiming that the financial institution would not lend the mining company Whitehaven Coal the money it needed for expanding its operations.
The result of the hoax was disastrous for the mining company, as the share market value dived by AUD 314 / USD 295 / €219.6 million.
The incident occurred in January, 2013, and on July 25, 2014, Jonathan Moylan, the hoaxer, was sentenced to “one year and eight months jail but ordered he be immediately released on the condition he be of good behavior for two years and $1000 [€700] bond,” according to Sydney Morning Herald.
26-year-old Moylan, from Newcastle, New South Wales (NSW), Australia, sent the press release pretending to be from ANZ (Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited) to a total of 306 individuals, which included 295 journalists and 98 media organizations.
At the end of the message, he included a phone number for contacting a bank representative for more information on the matter. The name of the bank representative was real, Toby Kent, but the phone number was his own.
When journalists inquired about the bank’s decision, he pretended to be Kent and told them that the news was genuine.
Until the hoax became clear, the coal company’s shares dropped in value by as much as 8.8%. Although the company recovered shortly after the incident, plenty of investors lost their money in the trading flurry. Of course, many could have profited by the price drop and get some cheap shares.
Justice Davies of the New South Wales Supreme Court said that “Here, the market was manipulated, vast amounts of shares were unnecessarily traded and some investors lost money or their investment in Whitehaven entirely. These were not just ‘day traders and speculators’... superannuation funds and ordinary investors suffered damage.”
It appears that the journalists and media outlets were fooled by the fake message because when he sent the email, Moylan used a domain that could have been mistaken for one used by the ANZ bank. The logo of the financial institution was also included to make the hoax seem the real deal.
Moylan pleaded guilty back at a term in May to one offense of contravening s1041E of the Corporations Act for disseminating false information to the market. The maximum penalty he could have received is ten years behind bars and/or a fine of up to AUD 765,000 / $719,000 / €535,000.