Oliver Curtis insider trading trial: ‘Best friend’ John Hartman testifies against Roxy Jacenko’s husband

JOHN Hartman, the former best friend of banker Oliver Curtis, accused PR queen Roxy Jacenko’s husband of having a “big mouth” and a “gambling problem”, as he gave evidence in court today.

THE former best friend of banker Oliver Curtis said the $1.4 million they made trading illegally was “the easiest money they could possibly have made”, a court heard.

John Joseph Hartman, 30, did not look at his old school friend as he gave evidence against him at his trial over alleged insider trading, detailing how they had spent the money on a jetsetting lifestyle when they were just 21.

Curtis’s wife, public relations queen Roxy Jacenko, eyeballed Hartman from the gallery as he told the jury how they were “swept up in a fake world”, using the money to pay for a $3000-a-week Bondi Beach pad, plasma TVs, an overseas holiday with friends and vehicles.

John Hartman (front), Crown witness and former friend of Oliver Curtis, gave evidence at the Supreme Court today. Picture: John Grainger

Curtis, who went to elite Sydney school St ­Ignatius College Riverview with Hartman, has pleaded not guilty to one count of conspiring to commit insider trading between May 1, 2007 and June 30, 2008.

The trial heard Hartman would pass on ­inside information from his workplace, ­investment management fund Orion Asset Management, where he was an equities trader, to Curtis.

Curtis would then allegedly buy or sell shares based on Hartman’s tips, making up to $100,000 in a day.

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Under cross examination by defence barrister Murugan Thangaraj SC, Hartman agreed that he made $5.8 million using the separate ­account but only $1.59 million was seized by authorities.

He admitted that he thought Curtis had a “big mouth” and a “gambling problem”.

“Then your telling us that you trusted a person with a big mouth and a gambling problem to not only hold your share of the profits, but pay tax on them as well?” Mr Thangaraj asked.

“Yes sir,” Hartman replied.

Oliver Curtis and Roxy Jacenko arrive hand in hand this morning. Picture: John Grainger

Hartman told the jury when they would meet up after a big win they would ­discuss how “this is the ­easiest money we could ­possibly have made”.

“I look back at it now, young 21-year-olds not ­believing it’s possible to make that sort of money so quickly, so easily. It was almost like it was some sort of game,” he said.

Hartman said they knew what they were doing was wrong and if they were caught they would be in a “lot of shit”.

The court heard Hartman was finally caught in 2009 when a personal trading ­account of his was investigated.

He pleaded guilty to ­multiple charges under the Corporations Act in relation to insider trading and in 2010 was sentenced to three years, with 15 months non-parole.

He received a 10 per cent ­discount on his sentence by agreeing to give evidence against Curtis.

Hartman said he and ­Curtis, who was working at investment banking firm Transocean Group, “egged each other on” to go ahead with the plan using BlackBerrys to send each other ­encrypted messages through the devices’ “pinning” system.

“By the time we bought the BlackBerry we had been egging each other on enough that [if] we were going to do this we needed the BlackBerry to communicate with each other,” he said.

“We knew what we were doing was front running or insider trading. We knew we needed to be careful about communicating with each other.”

He told the court “Ollie” was in charge of the trading account, which he opened with CMC Markets, because he could put in a large deposit that they would need to trade a large enough amount of shares to make it profitable.

The mechanism they used to trade shares was contracts for difference (CFDs).

“I would send a pin to him telling him what the trade should be, how much, what quantity and what price the trade should be,” he told the court.

Nick Curtis, the father of banker Oliver Curtis, attended his son’s trial today. Picture: AAP Image/David Moir

“Ollie would send a pin back to me confirming the amount of shares or CFDs he was holding and the amount of shares he had bought or sold it at.”

Hartman said he would then start buying or selling shares on behalf of Orion Asset Management.

Hartman said Curtis made so much money CMC Markets told him he was one of their biggest clients and took him to the Melbourne Cup.

He said they had agreed that they would split the profits after tax and payments to CMC Markets.

Hartman told the court they used some of the profits to shout their friends to a holiday to Canada’s Whistler ski resort area and Las Vegas.

“Because the majority of our friends at the time, our other friends were either still at uni or not working we would fund part of the trip from our trade profits,” he said.

Hartman told the court that Curtis transferred cash into his account to pay for part of his flights, transfers, hotel rooms, shows and dinner.

“While my friends did not know where the money was coming from and just thought that it was because I was generous, I knew and Ollie knew that it was coming from partly from profits that we made trading together.”

Hartman agreed that ASIC never confiscated the BMW he purchased from the profits of his personal illegal trading or the Ducati motorbike he bought from money made allegedly trading illegally with Curtis.

Earlier, when asked by Senior Crown Prosecutor David Staehli SC if they were very good friends growing up, Hartman said, “we were best friends”.

Ms Jacenko, CEO of PR firm Sweaty Betty, watched from the gallery surrounded by a small group of helpers.

The trial continues.