Activist Jonathan Moylan pleads guilty on Whitehaven hoax

ENVIRONMENTAL activist Jonathan Moylan has pleaded guilty to disseminating false information.

ENVIRONMENT activist Jonathan Moylan has pleaded guilty to disseminating false information after distributing a fake press release claiming ANZ had withdrawn support for a Whitehaven coal project, an action that wiped $314 million from the miner’s market value.

Mr Moylan had previously pleaded not guilty to the charge, which has a maximum penalty of 10 years’ jail and/or a fine of $765,000.

He pleaded guilty in the NSW Supreme Court yesterday after the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions pursued the case. The Weekend Australian understands that he is set to avoid a jail sentence although he is unlikely to avoid a criminal conviction when he is sentenced in July.

Mr Moylan, 24, was charged by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission for perpetrating a hoax in January last year that temporarily wiped more than $300m from Whitehaven’s market capitalisation. He released a statement, purportedly from ANZ, that said the bank had withdrawn $1.2 billion in financing for Whitehaven’s new Maules Creek mine near Boggabri in northern NSW.

Some news organisations published stories online based on the press release, causing shareholders to dump their shares in the coal junior.

The hoax briefly knocked 8.9 per cent off the Whitehaven share price.

Neither ASIC nor Mr Moylan’s lawyer would comment on the case when contacted by The Weekend Australian.

Whitehaven also declined to comment last night, saying it had only been made aware of the guilty plea when contacted by the media.

Mr Moylan could face up to 10 years in prison for making a false and misleading statement under the Corporations Act.

ASIC commissioner Greg Tanzer has defended the regulator’s attempts to criminally prosecute him, saying the commission had no interest in the man’s “activist cause’’.

In an interview with The Australian a day after Mr Moylan’s first court appearance Mr Tanzer said a hoax could have “significant market impact’’ whether “it was intended or not intended’’.