Mafia' law behind biggest
insider trading case ever
Police in Stavanger unveiled Norway's largest case of alleged insider
trading ever.
 Fred Ingebrigtsen founded Acta in 1990 but has been forced to sell off his remaining holdings and now faces insider trading charges. PHOTO: MARIE von KROGH/ROGALANDSAVIS |
| Acta Kapitalforvaltning |
| Founded by Fred Anton Ingebrigtsen in 1990. Stocklisted in 2001. The Stavanger-based company's roughly 400 investment advisers offer savings and investment products including share-, real estate- and shipping funds. Acta manages around NOK 90 billion for some 83,000 customers, with operations in Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Revenues last year amounted to NOK 2.3 billion, with pre-tax profits of NOK 1.1 billion. First-quarter profits this year, however, were down by around half compared to the same quarter in 2007. |
Use of the "mafia" law can also result in much longer jail terms for the defendants, reports Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK), up to 11 years if prosecutors win their case against them.
The founder of investment group Acta, Fred Ingebrigtsen, was arrested and charged along with his sister, brother-in-law and half-brother on Monday. A fourth Norwegian, a Marbella-based real estate broker, is also charged in the case.
Ingebrigtsen, age 43, is charged with misusing inside information about Acta by sharing it with the other defendants. All of them allegedly enriched themselves by using the information to make timely and fortunate share transactions.
The alleged insider trading involved Acta shares worth around NOK 100 million, making it Norway's largest insider trading case to date.
Police and financial authorities in Norway reportedly have been investigating the case since February, when the country's Financial Supervisory Authority (Kredittilsynet) reported its own suspicions to police.
Olav Braaten, defense attorney for Ingebrigtsen, nonetheless said his client was "shocked" by the charges against him, and by police raids at Acta offices and the homes of those charged. "He (Ingebrigtsen) says he hasn't given insider information to anyone," Braaten told newspaper Aftenposten, adding that several of the share transactions involved are more than three years old.
The raids and charges sent Acta's stock into a steep dive, on top of heavy losses last week and a 57 drop in share value since New Year. The company already had suffered bad publicity and a rebuke from Norway's finance minister after Aftenposten reported how Acta had engaged in aggressive marketing aimed at potentially vulnerable retirees.
Ingebrigtsen himself has been pressured by his creditors to sell all his own Acta shares. A report to the Oslo Stock Exchange Tuesday morning said that Ingebrigtsen had sold off the rest of his shares for NOK 8.50. That's down from nearly NOK 40 per share in February of last year.
Nina Berglund
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