SYDNEY, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- An Australian investment banker has been sentenced to a year in jail on Monday, after releasing fake news' to the ASX about a small mining company receiving a line of credit from China.
Benjamin David Kirkpatrick, 44, former executive chairman of Waratah Resources, pleaded guilty to breaching disclosure requirements and authorising false information subsequently released to the stock market.
In 2013, Kirkpatrick's firm made an announcement to the ASX detailing an alleged 100 million Australian dollar trade finance facility with the Bank of China, which according to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission "no such facility had been established or agreed upon".
Kirkpatrick allowed the misinformation to circulate for a period of 11 days, and Waratah was found to have breached its legal obligations to its clients.
Before taking up the position at Waratah, Kilpatrick had served as a director at UBS in Sydney, and was also a senior investment banker at Macquarie Bank.
Due to the conviction, Kilpatrick is banned from managing a corporation for five years.
