A business journalist has been charged by Statsadvokaten for særlig økonomisk kriminalitet, the economic crime department, with stock market manipulation, TV2 Finans reports.
The journalist and one other individual have reportedly been accused of using the journalist's position to influence share prices for personal gain.
The pair have requested that they are not named in the media – a request Copenhagen City Court must consider before certain details of the case are revealed.
TV2 claims to have been in touch with the journalist, who does not wish to comment on the charges.
Precedent suggests tough sentence
In 2012, an editor of a Danish financial publication was sentenced to eight months in prison for similar charges.
Lars Bo Langsted, a professor of law, told TV2 that in such cases significant gains from trades are not a prerequisite for guilt.
"You don't necessarily have to have personally gained a lot," he said.
"Just attempting to affect share prices in one direction or the other is enough."
The maximum sentence for stock market manipulation is one and a half years, except if there are aggravating circumstances, such as large personal gains derived from the crime, in which case a prison sentence of up to six years can be handed down.
