Oliver Curtis Breaks Silence on Former Best Friend Who Testified Against Him
Oliver Curtis, the billionaire-to-be husband of Australian PR dynamo Roxy Jacenko, has delivered a notably frosty response about his ex-best mate who played a pivotal role in landing him in jail. Curtis, who was convicted in June 2016 of insider trading using confidential information, served twelve months of a two-year prison sentence at Cooma Correctional Centre in southern New South Wales.
The Insider Trading Scheme That Ended a Friendship
The former investment banker was found guilty of utilizing confidential tips provided by his old school chum John Joseph Hartman on forty-five separate occasions. The pair conducted their illicit activities via encrypted messages on BlackBerry phones between May 2007 and June 2008, illegally trading on shifts in share prices to generate substantial profits.
Curtis and Hartman had been inseparable best mates since their days at Saint Ignatius' College Riverview, the elite private Jesuit boarding school on Sydney's lower north shore. Both grew up in privileged circumstances—Hartman's father Keith served as obstetrician to billionaire families like the Packers and Murdochs, while Curtis's father Nick built his fortune in finance and mining rare earths.
Hartman's Cooperation and Subsequent Imprisonment
Hartman ultimately flipped on his former best friend, cooperating with authorities and testifying against Curtis. However, this cooperation came after Hartman himself had been jailed, aged twenty-five, in 2010, serving fifteen months in prison for his role in the scheme. Curtis was thirty when convicted but approximately twenty-two when he committed the offences.
Since his release from prison, Curtis had maintained public silence about Hartman—until this week when he was pressed about his ex-chum during an appearance on Joe Aston's Rampart Talks podcast.
The Frosty Exchange on Rampart Talks Podcast
When Aston asked Curtis what he would do if he ran into his former buddy, Curtis responded with deliberate detachment. "Look Joe, for me, I concentrate on myself, I don't think about past as far as individuals are concerned," Curtis stated.
Aston then pressed further, asking if Curtis had "any sympathy" for his ex-best mate, noting that Hartman had spent longer in jail while serving his time in a maximum-security prison. Curtis maintained his position: "As I said Joe, I don't think about any individual around that time frame for any more than I need to."
Significantly, when asked what he would do if he encountered Hartman, Curtis offered only: "Not much probably, it is what it is, it's the past."
Reflections on Guilt and Consequences
Aston also raised what he called "the elephant in the room," asking Curtis if he still maintained his innocence. Curtis responded by contextualizing the events as distant history: "Well, look Joe, I mean, let's just talk about some facts, it's coming on 20 years ago okay?"
He continued with a more reflective tone: "I was a young man, a very young man for that matter, I was in a situation which meant I had little to no, kind of, people around me as far as what I was doing. I was silly, I was stupid and I made a mistake."
Curtis described the moment of realization: "I can tell you from the moment there was, I guess, the knock on the door, quite literally, and there was a section 128 enforcement order from ASIC, which is obviously just an investigative process. Obviously I realised I'd done something gravely stupid."
Business Successes After Prison
Both men have achieved remarkable business success following their prison sentences. Hartman currently serves as CEO of multibillionaires Andrew and Nicola Forrest's private investment group Tattarang, responsible for managing assets worth more than twenty-five billion dollars.
Curtis, who married PR dynamo Roxy Jacenko after his release from jail, has made his own impressive return to business. It was recently reported that artificial intelligence start-up Firmus Technologies, which Curtis co-founded and co-chairs, had tripled its valuation to six billion dollars in just the past two months.
The Details of Their Illegal Trading
Court proceedings revealed that Curtis used confidential information provided by Hartman on forty-five occasions between May 2007 and June 2008 to illegally trade on share price movements. Hartman provided the tips while Curtis dealt with a stockbroker, resulting in total net profits exceeding 1.4 million dollars.
These illicit gains funded extravagant purchases including a nineteen-thousand-dollar black Ducati Sports motorcycle and a seventy-two-thousand-dollar dark silver Mini Cooper S convertible for Hartman. Curtis also paid a full year's rent of 156,000 dollars in early 2008 for a luxury apartment facing Bondi Icebergs that he shared with his then-girlfriend, socialite Hermione Underwood, and Hartman.
Additional funds financed a holiday to the United States and Canada featuring a helicopter ride from Whistler ski resort to Vancouver and a visit to the Spearmint Rhino strip joint in Las Vegas.
Hartman's Testimony and Current Relationship
The Australian Securities and Investment Commission first caught up with Hartman, who cooperated with investigators and agreed to give evidence against Curtis in return for a ten percent sentence discount. After confessing to regulators, Hartman sought treatment for gambling problems and spent two years working wage-free five days weekly at an inner-city soup kitchen.
Hartman pleaded guilty in the New South Wales Supreme Court to nineteen counts of insider trading and six offences of "tipping" inside information to Curtis. He was jailed in December 2010, six months after meeting his future wife, Alice Clarke.
When Hartman testified against Curtis at his Supreme Court trial in May 2016—four years after his own release from prison—he did not return Curtis's gaze from the dock. Hartman described Curtis as a "big mouth" and "show-off" with a gambling problem, still referring to him affectionately as "Oli."
Hartman told the jury both men knew their actions were wrong: "We both agreed we would be in a lot of s*** if this came out. It wouldn't be just one of us." He reflected on their youthful perspective: "I look back at it now, young 21-year-olds not believing it's possible to make that sort of money so quickly, so easily. It was almost like it was some sort of game."
Curtis's Drive for Redemption
In his recent podcast appearance, Curtis revealed he is driven by a desire for "redemption" for his crimes. "It's definitely something for me," he admitted. "The lessons of the past are learned and are something I am sure I am open about, and acknowledge and own."
Curtis expressed regret about not heeding advice before engaging in illegal conduct: "What I can tell you today, fast-forward 20 years, is if I had my time again of course I'd do different things, naturally. I absolutely know the impact this has had on my life, on my family's life, on the business's life for that matter."
Both men, now forty years old, do not appear to have spoken publicly about each other since their court cases. Daily Mail attempted to contact both in November to inquire whether animosity from Curtis's trial had eased in the near-decade since, but each declined to comment.
