Ex-Hanlong head pleads guilty to insider trading in Australia
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - The former head of China's Hanlong Mining Investment Pty Ltd pleaded guilty to insider trading charges in Australia, Australia's securities watchdog said on Wednesday.
Hui Xiao, also known as Steven Xiao, pleaded guilty to two combined charges of insider trading involving 65 illegal trades related to Sundance Resources Ltd and Bannerman Resources Ltd in July 2011, when he was Hanlong Mining's managing director.
Hanlong made takeover offers for Sundance and Bannerman in 2011.
Xiao also admitted to a third set of insider trading offences related to 37 illegal trades carried out in 2011, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission said.
Xiao has been in custody since being extradited from Hong Kong to Australia in October 2014, which will be taken into account in his sentencing, the commission said.
He could face a maximum 30 years in jail on the charges.
Another former Hanlong executive, Bo Shi Zhu, also known as Calvin Zhu, was sentenced to two years and three months jail in Australia in 2013, having pleaded guilty to three counts of insider trading between 2006 and 2011.
Hanlong called off a $1.23 billion (0.81 billion pounds) offer for Sundance in April 2013 after missing funding deadlines. Talks with uranium explorer Bannerman on a A$143 million (65.56 million pounds) offer ended in late 2011 due to similar funding issues.
(Reporting by Sonali Paul; Editing by Stephen Coates)
