Neil Rollins, a former senior manager of PM Onboard Limited, a waste industry firm, was today sentenced to 27 months in prison for insider dealing and money laundering. Rollins was also ordered to pay £197,000.66 in confiscation.
On 26 November 2010, after a trial, Rollins was found guilty of five counts of insider dealing and four counts of money laundering after he traded on the basis of information he obtained as a result of his senior position and laundered the proceeds.
Based on his knowledge of the company’s worsening financial position he sold his entire shareholding in PM Group plc and encouraged his wife to do the same. When Rollins became aware of the Financial Services Authority’s (FSA’s) interest in his dealing he laundered the proceeds to try to hide his conduct.
In passing sentence His Honour Judge Wadsworth QC said:
“You sold when you knew it was folly to buy. Every pound you saved was a pound someone else spent […] by selling early you broke the trust of your employer [and] you broke the trust owed to the market”
Margaret Cole, managing director of enforcement and financial crime at the FSA, said:
"By pursuing a criminal prosecution in this case, the FSA has shown that it will take tough action against those who abuse positions of trust by dealing on the basis of inside information. Rollins’ crime was aggravated by the fact that he sought to hide his conduct from the FSA by laundering the proceeds.
"The guilty verdicts and sentence in this case send a message, loud and clear, that insider dealing and money laundering are serious crimes."
Costs are to be decided at a later hearing.