The Financial Markets Authority (FMA) - Te Mana Tātai Hokohoko has filed High Court civil proceedings against Franco Belgiorno-Nettis, an experienced retail investor based in Auckland, for alleged market manipulation of NZX-listed shares of Steel and Tube Holdings Limited (STU).
The case centres on orders for STU's shares that Mr Belgiorno-Nettis made between November 2020 and July 2023 via two broking accounts he held with ASB Securities. The FMA alleges that Mr Belgiorno-Nettis' orders repeatedly impacted the closing prices of STU shares and were therefore likely to have the effect of creating a false or misleading appearance of trading.
It also alleges that the orders lacked a genuine commercial purpose and that Mr Belgiorno-Nettis deliberately took actions to increase or maintain the price of STU shares for his personal advantage at a time when he held a substantial shareholding in the company.
The FMA's claim contains 66 causes of action, each alleging contraventions of the trade-based market manipulation prohibitions in the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013 (FMC Act). The FMA is seeking a declaration of contravention, civil pecuniary penalties and costs.
The proceeding follows an investigation by the FMA after ASB had earlier reported potential concerns about the orders to NZ RegCo (NZX's frontline regulatory agency), which in turn referred the conduct to the FMA. NZ RegCo and the FMA work closely together to detect and respond to market manipulation on licensed markets.
Margot Gatland, FMA Head of Enforcement, said: "We take cases of market manipulation seriously to ensure New Zealand's markets reflect genuine supply and demand, in order to preserve their integrity and reputation.
"Public markets are an important aspect of the capital markets ecosystem in terms of both access to capital and opportunities for investment and wealth creation.
"Investors should be careful to understand their obligations when trading online."
The FMA acknowledges that ASB has systems and controls in place that allowed it to detect and refer concerns to NZ RegCo. This demonstrates the critical role that good systems play in detecting and preventing potential misconduct in markets.
The FMA has information for investors about market manipulation (both information- and trading-based) on its website.
STU is not a party to the proceeding.
