The former chief executive of failed Australian tech firm Big Un has pleaded guilty to sharing inside information, the country’s corporate regulator said on Friday, in another conviction linked to one of Australia’s most prominent technology sector failures.
Richard Evans, formerly known as Richard Evertz, entered the guilty plea in Sydney’s District Court over disclosures made to a shareholder in early 2017, when Big Un was one of the top-performing stocks on the Australian Securities Exchange.
Big Un collapsed in 2018 after its shares were suspended from trading and the company later entered administration, in what Reuters has previously reported as a test case for Australia’s enforcement of market misconduct laws.
Here are key details:
Evans admitted to communicating inside information around January 10, 2017, when he should have known it was likely to be used to trade Big Un shares or options.
The information related to customer take-up of a A$12,000 ($8,484.00) promotional video product and a A$20 million funding arrangement with financier First Class Capital
The trial has been vacated, with sentencing scheduled for August 21, 2026
Prosecutors allege the funding arrangement obscured underlying cash flow problems at Big Un, which were later disclosed to the market
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission said the matter was referred to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions and forms part of its broader push to curb insider trading
Big Un was one of the best-performing stocks on the ASX in 2017 before its shares were suspended in February 2018 and the company was delisted later that year
ASIC said 46 people have been criminally convicted of insider trading since 2009 following its investigations
Separate proceedings involving Big Un’s former chief financial officer remain ongoing after a jury failed to reach a verdict in a trial last month
