The Newcastle man, 26, issued a guilty plea in the New South Wales Supreme Court to one count of disseminating information that was false in a material particular and was likely to induce persons to dispose of financial products, in contravention of section 1041E of the Corporations Act 2001.

It follows an earlier plea of not guilty, which Moylon made in November.

Early last year, Moylan doctored an ANZ media release to incorrectly claim the bank was withdrawing $A1.2 billion in credit for the Maules Creek coal project in NSW on ethical grounds.

Moylan claimed he wanted to highlight the environmental and economic problems associated with the project, but it triggered a temporary $314 million crash in Whitehaven shares after it mistaken as being legitimate by some financial media.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission seized his computer days later and charged Moylan.

The maximum penalty for contravening section 1041E of the Corporations Act is 10 years’ jail and/or a fine of $765,000.

Moylan’s unconditional bail has been continued and he will return to court on July 11 for sentencing.

A crowd-funding campaign spearheaded by Moylan supporters has raised nearly $12,000 to assist with his defence.