Allegedly made £140k profit
A former junior lawyer at Clifford Chance and his brother who worked as an analyst at Goldman Sachs have pleaded not guilty to charges of insider trading and fraud.
Ex-magic circle associate Suhail Zina and Mohammed Zina, both 33, appeared before Southwark Crown Court in London yesterday to deny six counts of insider trading and three of fraud, the Financial Times (£) reports.
The alleged offending took place between July 2016 and December 2017, and is said to have involved trading of six different stocks. It’s claimed the total profit from their insider trading was in excess of £140,000.
The fraud charges relate to three personal loans obtained from Tesco Bank totalling £95,000. The duo allegedly claimed that the loans were to cover home improvements, but the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) says they were used instead to fund insider dealing.
The brothers, from Stoke Newington, north London, left their high-flying roles at Clifford Chance and Goldman Sachs in 2018. Suhail completed his training contract with the firm in 2017.
The brothers, who are on unconditional bail, will stand trial on 4 April next year.
Fraud is punishable by a fine and/or up to ten years’ imprisonment, while insider trading is punishable by a fine and/or up to seven years’ imprisonment.
As news of the charges broke earlier this year, a spokesman for Goldman Sachs said that “neither the firm nor any other current or former employee of the firm is the subject of an investigation into the matters giving rise to the proceedings.”
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