FCA confiscates over £500,000 from convicted insider dealer

The order must be paid within 3 months, or Mr Zina will face a further 5 years in prison. The confiscation order amounts to all of Mr Zina’s available assets.

Therese Chambers, the FCA’s joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight said: 'Insider dealing harms the integrity of our markets. As well as prosecuting insider dealers, we will not allow them to keep any part of their illicit profits. We have confiscated the entirety of Mr Zina’s assets, demonstrating that crime does not pay.’

Between 2014 and December 2017, Mohammed Zina worked as an analyst at Goldman Sachs International (Goldman Sachs), joining its Conflicts Resolutions Group in 2016. In that role he came into possession of inside information relating to potential mergers and acquisitions his employer was advising on.

Between 15 July 2016 and 4 December 2017, Mr Zina dealt in 6 shareholdings using this inside information. The total returns from trading in these stocks was approximately £140,486.

The trading was partly funded by 3 loans, fraudulently obtained from Tesco Bank, totalling £95,000.

In February 2023, Mr Zina was convicted of all 9 offences and sentenced to 22 months' imprisonment.  

Notes to editors

1. The confiscation order was made on 29 January 2025.
2. We previously published details of the defendant’s conviction and sentence[1]
3. Mr Zina has 3 months to pay the amount in full. Should he not do so he is liable to be sentenced to a further 5 years in prison and once released will still be liable to pay it in full, with interest. We will seek to enforce this against any available assets.  
4. The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 allows ‘benefit’ of crime to be calculated as all property obtained in the course of the criminal conduct. The calculation of Mr Zina’s benefit from insider dealing represents the total gross value of the shares when sold rather than merely the profits achieved.
5. The court found Mr Zina’s benefit across all his offences, including fraud, to be £1,091,424.72, when adjusted for inflation. The proceeds are adjusted for inflation to reflect the value as at the time of the order, i.e. in 2025, and therefore the sums involved include an uplift.
6. The 6 shareholdings Mr Zina dealt in using inside information were: Arm Holdings plc, Alternative Networks plc, Punch Taverns plc, Shawbrook plc, HSN Inc, and Snyder’s Lance Inc.