It was the alleged insider trading scam that would make a pair of mates from university $2.5 million in a day, and a cool $7 million in 10 months.

And for about six months, the two young men – Facebook friends, aged 26 and 24 – appeared to have avoided suspicion.

Christopher Russell Hill arrives at Canberra Airport to be taken to Melbourne. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

But for a scheme where manipulation of timing was everything, it was time records which came to catch them out, according to documents presented in court on Saturday.

The court documents state the plan between sacked NAB worker Lukas Kamay and suspended Bureau of Statistics employee Christopher Hill was doomed after a tip-off to the Australian Securities and Investment Commission by an online broker in February.