Japan Court Convicts Ex-Judge of Insider Trading

Tokyo, March 26 (Jiji Press)--Tokyo District Court on Wednesday found a former judge guilty of committing insider trading by using information obtained during his work on loan at the Financial Services Agency.

Judge Masaru Nomura sentenced Soichiro Sato, 32, the former judge, to two years in prison, suspended for four years, criticizing his act as "habitual." In addition, Sato was fined 1 million yen and ordered to pay an additional 10.2 million yen in penalty.

The defendant "damaged the fairness and soundness of the market as well as the trust of investors" by abusing his position in charge of examining documents on companies planning tender offers, Nomura said.

"His criminal responsibility is heavy" as he damaged the credibility of the agency's system supervising corporate tender offers, the judge continued.

The defendant side said that the additional penalty, set at the same level as the value of shares he sold in the insider trading, should be 3.9 million yen, the same as the total profits he earned.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]