In a case brought by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Ryan Willmott, formerly Group Reporting and Financial Planning Manager for Logica PLC, has today pleaded guilty to three instances of insider dealing. Profits from the related dealing exceeded £30,000. He will be sentenced on 26 of March.
Willmott admitted dealing on the basis of inside information he obtained during the course of his employment relating to the takeover of Logica PLC by CGI Group, as publicly announced on 31 May 2012. Willmott set up a trading account in the name of a former girlfriend, without her knowledge, to carry out the trading. He also admitted disclosing inside information to a family friend, who then went on to deal on behalf of Willmott and himself.
Georgina Philippou, the FCA’s acting director of enforcement and market oversight said:
"Those who are entrusted with inside information commit a serious breach of trust by disclosing or trading on that information. This case shows that using others to try to cover up that breach of trust does not prevent detection. The FCA will not stand by when people take part in opportunistic insider dealing."
Notes to editors
- The FCA, and previously the Financial Services Authority, have secured 25 convictions in relation to insider dealing: Christopher McQuoid and James William Melbourne in March 2009; Matthew and Neel Uberoi in November 2009, Malcolm Calvert on 11 March 2010, Anjam Ahmad on 22 June 2010, Neil Rollins on 21 January 2011, Christian Littlewood and Angie Littlewood on 8 October 2010 and Helmy Omar Sa'aid on 10 January 2011, Rupinder Sidhu on 15 December, and James and Miranda Sanders together with another individual in May 2012 and Ali Mustafa,[1] Pardip Saini, Paresh Shah, Neten Shah, Bijal Shah and Truptesh Patel on 27 July 2012, Thomas Ammann on 13 December 2012, Paul Milsom on 7 March 2013, Richard Joseph on 11 March 2013 and Graeme Shelley on 27 March 2014. Julian Rifat on 7 November 2014.
- The FCA is currently prosecuting eight other individuals for insider dealing:
Martyn Dodgson
11 January 2016
Andrew Hind
11 January 2016
Benjamin Anderson
11 January 2016
Iraj Parvizi
11 January 2016
Richard Baldwin
11 January 2016
Grant Harrison
Paul Coyle
11 January 2016
Trial date to be confirmed
Damian Clarke
Trial date to be confirmed
- The Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 gives the FCA powers to investigate and prosecute insider dealing, defined by The Criminal Justice Act 1993.
- Individuals with information about market abuse can call the FCA’s market abuse hotline on 020 7066 4900.
- On the 1 April 2013 the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) became responsible for the conduct supervision of all regulated financial firms and the prudential supervision of those not supervised by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA).
- The FCA has an overarching strategic objective of ensuring the relevant markets function well. To support this it has three operational objectives: to secure an appropriate degree of protection for consumers; to protect and enhance the integrity of the UK financial system; and to promote effective competition in the interests of consumers.
- Find out more information about the FCA.