Taped calls catch porn profit talk
John Kizon's alleged insider trading co-conspirator Nigel Mansfield predicted shares in AdultShop.com would treble on surprise financial results, a District Court jury has been told.
Federal authorities recorded a series of phone calls Mr Mansfield made in January, 2002 before and after he met AdultShop managing director Malcolm Day in the pornography company's Northbridge office.
Mr Mansfield told Mr Kizon that AdultShop would declare a profit of about $11 million on turnover of $111 million, as opposed to expectations of a $3 million profit from revenue of between $30 million and $50 million.
Mr Mansfield told Mr Kizon he planned to throw $100,000 into AdultShop. "We will make 200 grand you know," he said.
Transcripts of the calls were read to the jury yesterday by prosecutor Alan Macsporran as he summed up the case against Mr Kizon and Mr Mansfield.
The share-trading partners are fighting five charges of conspiring to insider trade AdultShop shares between January and July, 2002 amid talk of big profits from internet pornography.
The profits never materialised and Mr Kizon and Mr Mansfield lost money. Their lawyers have accusing Mr Day of being a liar and a spruiker aggressively promoting AdultShop shares.
After four weeks in court, the pair elected to not testify or call witnesses in their defence.
Justice Stephen Scott told the jurors an accused person was not obliged to give evidence.
Mr Macsporran said the accused "fervently believed they had information that the wider investment community did not have". Mr Mansfield had decided to buy the shares carefully because he was in possession of inside information and did not want to alert the market, the prosecutor said.
Mr Mansfield was a highly experienced investor and it was hard to believe he could have been fooled about the general availability of the information from Mr Day.
