AACo turns to lawyers after insider trading claims against billionaire investor
Australian Agriculture was seeking legal advice over what moves it needs and can take following the allegations of insider trading of its biggest shareholder, British billionaire Joe Lewis.
AACo and its Queensland operations were named in explanatory documents filed by US Attorney for the Southern District of New York against Lewis.
The billionaire was alleged to have tipped off his pilots about the impact of the Queensland floods on the company.
The US Attorneyās OfficeĀ announcedĀ on Wednesday that Lewis and his two private pilots had been arrested and would be presented later in the day.
It said Patrick OāConnor and Bryan Waugh were two pilots employed by Lewis to fly his private aircraft.
āLewis tipped both OāConnor and Waugh and encouraged them to trade based on material, non-public information,ā the US Attorney claimed.
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Lewis is alleged to have advised his two personal jet pilots, Waugh and OāConnor, to sell shares in AACo that they had previously bought āas soon as possibleā.
But the information came too late and the pilots were unable to do so before AACo made a public statement which caused a steep drop in its price.
When one of the pilotās stockbrokers told him that the sale had not gone through in time to avoid a loss, the airman wrote back: āJust wish the boss would have given us a little earlier heads up.ā
āIn one instance, Lewis gave OāConnor and Waugh loans, each worth $US500,000, so they could buy a companyās stock before the public release of favorable clinical results.
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āIn connection with that loan, OāConnor texted a friend to buy the stock, told the friend the āBoss is helping us out and told us to get ASAP,ā and assured the friend that āAll conversations on app is encrypted so all good.Ā No one can ever see.ā
āOāConnor also texted the friend that āBoss mentioned around 6 to 8 weeks for [Mirati] to take profitā and that he thought āthe Boss has inside infoā and āknows the outcomeā of not-yet-public clinical testing.
OāConnor and Waugh later sold the stock they had purchased on the basis of these tips for a profit, as did Lewisās assistant and friends.
The allegations came as AACo was preparing to front shareholders at an annual general meeting today.
It said the board had been made aware of the action by the Manhattan Attorney General.
āThe board has sought legal advice on the matters relating to AACo,ā the company said.
āAs the proceedings are against Mr Lewis, AACo has no further information and is not able to comment further.ā
Lewis owns just over 50 per cent of AACo which operates beef producing assets in Australia.
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