FSA arrests six in London over insider trading

Six professionals suspected of being part of insider trading were arrested in London in dawn raids yesterday, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) said, adding that they are believed to be part of a wider and sophisticated long-running ring.

Officers from FSA, in its 'largest-ever operation against insider dealing', also searched 16 homes and businesses in London and surrounding counties, seizing computers and documents.

According to the Times Online of London, the arrested men are Martyn Dodgson, a managing director in the corporate broking department of Deutsche Bank; Julian Rifat, a London-based execution trader of New York-based hedge fund Moore Capital Management; Clive Roberts, an employee of Exane SA, a Paris-based brokerage firm that is half-owned by BNP Paribas but is controlled by Exane management; and Graeme Shelley, a trader at Novum Securities, the stockbroking and corporate finance firm based in Park Lane, London.

They are suspected of passing inside information to traders - either directly or via middlemen - who traded based on this information and have made significant profits.

Around 150 police officers and FSA staff participated in the operations, jointly conducted with the Serious Organised Crime agency.

According to media reports, FSA has been focusing on this area since 2008, with this the fifth set of arrests. Four people have been jailed – and another person received a suspended sentence – while three other insider-dealing cases are set for trial.

Hector Sants, the FSA chief executive, last week set out plans for a hiring spree to help bolster its investigations of insider dealing.

In October, Raj Rajratnam co-founder of the US-based hedge fund Galleon Group, was arrested by the authorities for alleged insider trading.