Five defendants are posed to go to trial in one of UK’s biggest insider-trading scandals ever.
The five, Martyn Dodgson, former managing director of Deutsche Bank, Andrew Hind, an accountant, Grant Harrison, former managing director at Altium Capital, Benjamin Anderson, a day trader, and Iraj Parvizi, former director of Aria Capital, were accused of conspiring to trade securities with inside information in order to make £3 million in profit. A sixth defendant, jeweller Richard Baldwin, was ruled too ill to stand trial.
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The case had a dramatic start. In March 2010, more than 100 police and regulators were deployed across 16 locations to arrest seven people.
The financial crisis were still fresh in City traders’ memories and the raids came as the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis was beginning to get traction. The raids, co-coordinated by the now-defunct Financial Services Authority, stunned a City, which was used to a regulator with a “light touch.”
Now the trial, which was delayed after cuts to legal aid saw some defendants lose access to their lawyers, comes as the Financial Conduct Authority faces criticism for reverting to the same light touch approach on the City as its predecessor.
The FCA is struggling to overcome a leadership crisis after its acting CEO, Tracey McDermott, ruled herself out of the running.
Meanwhile, FCA executives will be hauled in to parliament to face questions from lawmakers over its scrapping of two banking reviews within a matter of months.
The five defendant have pleaded not guilty to the charges.
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