Pushpay accused keeps name suppression as insider trading trial begins

The defendant again pleaded not guilty to the charge. Photo / Duncan Brown

The person at the centre of the Pushpay insider trading case will continue to be granted name suppression as a trial by jury begins this week.

The four-week trial started on Monday for the person accused of criminal insider trading by the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) relating to the sale of Pushpay shares in 2018.

Last March, the defendant with name suppression pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The alleged trading occurred between May and early June 2018, when Pushpay announced co-founder and director Eliot Crowther had resigned and sold down his shareholding in the firm.

The criminal charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in jail and a fine of up to $500,000.

Crowther’s trading was legitimate, and he isn’t a party to the proceedings.

The case was moved from the Auckland District Court to the High Court at Auckland last year, and a trial by jury was set down for July of this year.

On Monday, John Dixon KC appeared for the defendant before Justice Ian Gault with barrister Honor Lanham. Brian Dickey appeared for the Crown alongside litigator and Crown prosecutor David Wiseman.

The defendant again pleaded not guilty to the charge.

Justice Geoffrey Venning declined a bid for the defendant’s name suppression to continue in the High Court at Auckland last July before the decision was appealed in the court of appeal – which has yet to make a decision.

Pushpay Holdings delisted from the New Zealand stock exchange in May this year following a takeover.