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Twenty-six-year-old former NAB employee Lukas Kamay and 25-year-old ABS employee Christopher Hill were sentenced to jail in the Supreme Court yesterday.
Mr Kamay was sentenced to seven years and three months in prison, while Mr Hill was jailed for three years and three months.
The two men were arrested in May 2014 after a joint investigation by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and ASIC identified suspicious trading in foreign exchange derivatives.
The investigation found Mr Kamay was receiving sensitive ABS information on employment statistics from Mr Hill, which he later profited from via a series of trades.
In a joint statement with parliamentary secretary to the treasurer Kelly O'Dwyer and ASIC, assistant treasurer Josh Frydenberg said the sentence was a testament to the close working relationship between the AFP and ASIC.
"The arrest and conviction of an ABS officer for an unauthorised disclosure of statistics is unprecedented in the ABS’s 110-year history.
"Today’s sentence demonstrates that such actions which breach the trust placed in ABS officers will not go undetected or unpunished," Mr Frydenberg said.
"Insider trading is a serious offence and a form of dishonesty – stealing information owned by others and exploiting it for a personal gain.
"It is also at complete odds with the expectation of Australian investors about a level playing field, where those with access to privileged information do not have an unfair advantage over other investors," the statement said.
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