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ASIC v. Benjamin Heath Cooper (price manipulation, 2022)

Judgment entered

Checked against the primary document on October 2, 2026. The library's summary, tags and figures for this record were compared with the regulator's own document by an AI model (Claude) following written instructions, with sampled and disputed records read a second time. No lawyer has reviewed them. A checked record can still contain errors, and checked does not mean endorsed. See how we check records or report a correction.

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In June 2022 ASIC reported that Benjamin Heath Cooper pleaded guilty in Western Australia to one charge of conspiring with Avrohom Kimelman and another to manipulate Quantum Resources shares on 16 November 2015, with sentencing set for December 2022.

The record

Structured fields for this action, as recorded in our case library.
Agency ASIC
Release number 22-140MR
Date filed 2022-06-10
Status judgment
Criminal parallel Yes: guilty plea (Benjamin Heath Cooper), Stirling Gardens Magistrates' Court, 2022-06-08
Defendants Benjamin Heath Cooper (individual)
Techniques Price manipulation

What was ordered

Civil penalty
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Disgorgement
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Prejudgment interest
—
Total relief
—
Alleged gain
—

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 June 10, 2022 as release 22-140MR. The respondents named are Benjamin Heath Cooper (1 individual, 0 entities).

This library tags the matter as price manipulation, based on the conduct the regulator describes. Each tag links to a page explaining how that technique works, what statute it engages, and what penalties comparable actions have attracted. The tagging is ours, not the regulator's: agencies charge statutory provisions, not technique names.

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.

Timeline

  1. 2022-06-10 ASIC media release

Primary documents

Everything on this page derives from the documents below. Where our summary and the primary document disagree, the primary document is right.

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.

Date filed Agency Record Status
2021-03-17 ASIC ASIC v. Benjamin Heath Cooper (price manipulation, 2021) Judgment entered
2022-06-10 ASIC ASIC v. Benjamin Heath Cooper (price manipulation, 2022)(this record) Judgment entered

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.

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

Action Agency Filed Technique Penalty Status
CFTC v. George Santos (price manipulation, 2026) CFTC 2026-07-31 Price Manipulation $17.5k settled
Victorian man sentenced in market manipulation case (ASIC, 2025) ASIC 2025-12-12 Price Manipulation , Wash Trading — judgment
ASIC v. Delta Power & Energy (Vales Point) Pty Ltd (price manipulation, 2025) ASIC 2025-06-30 Price Manipulation , Marking The Close — filed
Victorian man charged over alleged market manipulation (ASIC, 2025) ASIC 2025-03-14 Price Manipulation , Wash Trading — judgment
SEC v. Marco Babini, et al. (price manipulation, 2024) SEC 2024-09-27 Price Manipulation — judgment
CFTC v. TOTSA TotalEnergies Trading SA (price manipulation, 2024) CFTC 2024-08-27 Price Manipulation $48m settled

Record added September 10, 2026. submit a correction.