Ex-Daily Mirror journalists get sentences for manipulating stock market |
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Sat, 21 Jan 2006 20:10
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LONDON: A former financial journalist who worked for Daily Mirror newspaper got a sentence to do community service for manipulating Britain's stock market, while his ex-colleague faces jail sentence on the same count.
India-born Anil Bhoyrul and his associate James Hipwell, who functioned as the paper's "City Slickers" columnists, had been using their column to tip companies in which they held shares and then selling the shares when the prices escalated, the St. Albans Crown Court in north London was told.
Bhoyrul, 39, who pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to create a misleading impression about the share values, received 180 hours of community service. A sentence for Hipwell, also 39, who was convicted on the same charge in early December, was adjourned as he was found to be having a kidney ailment and a medical review was in progress.
According to the charges, Hipwell had made 41,000 pounds and Bhoyrul 15,000 pounds through their columns during the Internet bubble as they derived profits on their investments in companies that included Viglen Technology Plc. and Oxford GlycoSciences Plc.
The two columnists said they were influenced by the impact of their column on the market and investors, who included Daily Mirror employees, especially former editor Piers Morgan. Morgan, who was investigated by regulators over shares he had bought in Viglen, the day before the City Slickers tipped it, has been cleared of any conspiracy. He resigned from the newspaper in May 2004 after it published photographs, later found to be forgeries that seemed to depict British troops torturing an Iraqi captive.
The judge, Justice Jack Beatson, said he considered the offences by the two as "serious" but these occurred when the stock market was rising and generating excitement. He also said he took into account the "culture of advance information about tips'' and share-dealing by employees at the Daily Mirror.
Bhoyrul now works in Dubai. The judge gave him credit for pleading guilty before a seven-week trial. The judge said Hipwell's actions merited a jail sentence as there is no indication that he had accepted the criminal nature of his act.
Another person, Terry Shepherd, who was a day trader, working with Hipwell and Bhoyrul to publicize their tips on Internet bulletin boards, got a three-month jail sentence. Half of that sentence will be suspended, the judge said.
Bhoyrul, through his advocate, said he apologised for not disclosing his share dealing to his readers, but added that he never acted dishonestly.
The case was investigated for about four years by the department of trade and industry. Daily Mirror had dismissed the two journalists in early 2000 on charges of gross misconduct.
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