Michael Bowes QC acting for the FSA in city worker insider dealing trial

A former City worker made almost £693,000 by using insider information to place spread bets on six stocks after paying a print worker £269,000 in return for price sensitive information on takeover deals, a jury has been told.

Richard Joseph,43, is accused of six counts of conspiracy to commit insider dealing in the latest criminal prosecution to be brought by the Financial Services Authority. He denies the charges.

The trial at Southwark Crown Court was told that Mr Joseph received the sensitive details ahead of public announcements between September 2007 and July 2008 from Ersin Mustafa, who worked in the confidential printroom at investment bank JPMorgan Cazenove.

The FSA claims that Mr Mustafa disseminated the information to Mr Joseph by methods including a webmail drop box and phone calls before Mr Joseph allegedly placed spread bets with CMC.

Michael Bowes QC, prosecuting, told the jury that Mr Joseph had in some cases “vast exposure” to the spread bets and it was not unusual for him to have exposure of more than £1m, and in the case of Abbot Group his exposure was at one point £3m.

“The prosecution’s case is the reason he was prepared to risk large amounts was because he had the benefit, the comfort, the cheat of inside information from Ersin Mustafa”, Mr Bowes told the jury.

News 31 Jan, 2013