Former Genetic Technologies CEO jailed for market manipulation (ASIC, 2014)

Judgment entered

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In November 2014 ASIC reported that former Genetic Technologies chief executive Mervyn Jacobson was sentenced to a total of two years and eight months in prison, to serve 12 months before release on a 20-month recognizance, for manipulating the GTG share price on the ASX in 2006 to manage margin calls on loans of about $12 million.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

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Disgorgement

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Prejudgment interest

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Total relief

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Alleged gain

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A dash means the release did not state a figure we could extract, not that the figure is zero. Penalty and disgorgement are stored separately so aggregates across the library do not double-count the same dollars.

What is alleged to have happened

the Australian Securities and Investments Commission announced this matter on November 28, 2014 as release 14-320MR. The respondent named is Mervyn Jacobson (1 individual, 0 entities).

The sentencing followed his conviction on all 35 charges, including two of conspiracy, after an eight-week jury trial in the Supreme Court of Victoria; the judge said the offending undermined fair and orderly markets. This library tags the matter as price manipulation.

The release references a parallel criminal proceeding. Where a criminal case exists, the civil and criminal outcomes are recorded separately, because they resolve on different standards of proof.

For the regulator's own account of the facts, read the primary document linked above. This page deliberately summarises the structured record rather than reproducing the release.

What technique is this, and how does it work?

This action is tagged with one technique in our taxonomy. The tagging is ours: regulators charge statutory provisions, not technique names, so the mapping is an editorial judgement described in our editorial policy.

• Price manipulation — see how it works, what statute it engages, and every other action tagged the same way.

Timeline

1. 2014-11-28 ASIC media release

Primary documents

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• ASIC media release

The linked release is published by the issuing regulator under its own terms. Our summary and narrative above are our own writing.

Same matter

The library links these 2 records because they appear to concern one matter: the same lead defendant, an overlapping technique tag and close filing dates, or a shared court docket or a release that cites the other. Records are listed by date filed.

This grouping is the library's, made by matching names, techniques, dates and citations when the site is built. It is not the regulator's or a court's determination that the records are one case, and it errs towards missing a link rather than making a false one.

Related actions

Other actions in the library sharing at least one technique tag with this one.

Record added September 10, 2026. submit a correction.