Management consultant jailed for two years for insider dealing
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A management consultant has been found guilty of 22 counts of insider dealing and been sentenced to two years in prison.
The case was brought by the FSA and the sentence was handed down at Southwark Crown Court today.
Between May 15, 2009 and August 22, 2009, management consultant Rupinder Sidhu was jointly involved with ex-hedge fund trader and AKO Capital risk manager Anjam Ahmad in insider dealing in 18 different UK and European listed shares.
The insider dealing was based on inside information obtained by Ahmad in his role as a trader at AKO about forthcoming transactions by AKO in those securities. Sidhu placed spread bets in relation to those securities and made approximately £524,000 profit.
In passing the sentence His Honour Judge Gledhill QC said: “You are greedy. Sheer greed is behind all these offences.”
FSA acting director of enforcement and financial crime Tracey McDermott says: “This is another step in our fight against market abuse. Sidhu embarked on a sophisticated scheme which was designed to enable him to profit from exploiting confidential price sensitive information.
“For a time he no doubt thought this was easy money. This verdict should send a clear message to anyone else who might be tempted to do the same. Insider dealers are criminals, no more and no less, and we will treat them as such.”
Ahmad was fined £50,000 for insider dealing in June last year, and given a suspended sentence of 10 months in prison and 300 hours of unpaid community service.
Ahmad pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit insider dealing. A further offence of insider dealing committed in February 2008 was also taken into consideration.
The FSA has secured 11 convictions in relation to insider dealing since March 2009. The regulator is currently prosecuting 15 other individuals for insider dealing.
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