The Yomiuri Shimbun reports that Japan’s Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission will pursue a record-high penalty of 20 million yen against an employee of a Tokyo-based IT company who allegedly committed insider trading. The article states that the SESC will urge the Financial Service Agency to issue the company employee with an order — on suspicion of insider trading in violation of the Financial Instrument and Exchange Law — to pay about 20 million yen in penalties (approximately US$200,000). If issued, the 20 million yen penalty would be the “record high imposed on an individual trader for violating the law.”
The alleged insider trader is an employee of Minato Ward-based e-Seikatsu Co., which is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Market of High-Growth and Emerging Stocks. According to the report, the employee sold short “a large number of shares in the company by using insider information related to its poor business performance.” The employee admitted to the allegations during voluntary questioning by the SESC, Yomiuri Shimbun reports.
