Peter Huljich was convicted in August 2023 in a case brought by the Financial Markets Authority. Photo: Supplied
*This article has been amended to clarify that Peter Huljich’s conviction did not relate to the sale of shares by Huljich. The shares were sold by a trust.
The Supreme Court has dismissed an application for leave to appeal by a businessman found guilty of insider trading.
Peter Huljich was convicted for insider trading over the sale of Pushpay Holdings shares in 2018.
The Financial Markets brought the criminal case against Huljich three years ago, and he was found guilty in August 2023.
Last year, Huljich appealed the conviction and the High Court's decision to refuse name suppression, but lost both appeals earlier this year.
The Crown also appealed the sentence of six months' community detention and fine of $100,000. The Court of Appeal increased the fine to $200,000.
Following the Court of Appeal decision, Huljich continued to maintain his innocence and signalled he would seek leave to appeal to the Supreme Court, which was dismissed on Wednesday.
"The proper approach to the offence of insider conduct under the Financial Markets Conduct Act may be a matter of general or public importance and general commercial significance," the Supreme Court said in its judgement.
"However, we are not sufficiently persuaded on these facts that the Court of Appeal might have erred in its approach to evaluating the materiality of information."
The Pushpay case
Huljich is part of the Auckland rich lister Huljich family, and is the son of Christopher Huljich.
He and his father founded Huljich Wealth Management, which was later sold to Fisher Funds.
In April 2018, Pushpay co-founder Eliot Crowther, who held about 9 percent of Pushpay's shares, told Huljich he was thinking of leaving and selling his shares. They were sold in June at $4.04 via a book build.
But between the time that Crowther told Huljich of his intentions and before Crowther's departure and share sale, a trust that held Pushpay shares sold those shares on the NZX at an average price of $4.21.
It was alleged by the Crown that Huljich advised or encouraged the trust to do so because he expected the sale of Crowther's shares would have an impact on the Pushpay share price.
Huljich said he had not encouraged the trust's principal beneficiary or the trustees of the trust to sell the shares but was just passing on the principal beneficiary's instructions.
He said Crowther's departure and share sale was not insider information because a reasonable investor would not expect this information to have a material effect on the share price.
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