A business journalist for the publication Penge og Privatøkonomi has been sentenced to a month in prison for stock market manipulation.

No free market
The journo was convicted of charges of manipulating stock prices in the period from 2011 to 2013 by writing articles that encouraged readers to buy up stocks of small companies as a long-term investment.

He himself bought stocks of the same companies before his pieces were published and then sold them when prices rose as a result of his articles.

Copenhagen City Court on Monday afternoon sentenced the man to a conditional sentence of 30 days.

The prosecution, which had demanded that a fine of 75,000 kroner be levied in the days leading up to the case, had to settle for a much lower one of 10,000 kroner instead.