In a case brought by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and heard at Southwark Crown Court, Confiscation Orders (the Orders) totalling £1,534,000 were made today against Christian Littlewood and Angie Littlewood. They were each ordered to pay £767,000 representing the benefit obtained by each of them from insider dealing.
The Order will be paid out of funds and assets which were restrained by the Court on the application of the FSA at the time of the Littlewoods arrest. The Littlewoods and Helmy Omar Sa’aid, the third defendant, were convicted of insider dealing in eight stocks making a total profit of £590,000. The total amount confiscated in this case, including the previous order of £640,000 against Sa’aid totals £2,174,000. This is as a result of the application of the confiscation regime which allows the court to assume that the proceeds of other trading that took place within the same period represent the proceeds of crime.
On 8 October 2010 Christian Littlewood, a former senior investment banker and former FSA Approved Person, his wife Angie Littlewood and a family friend, Helmy Omar Sa’aid, pleaded guilty to eight counts of insider dealing related to trading in a number of different London Stock Exchange and AIM listed shares between 2000 and 2008.
Christian Littlewood was sentenced to three years and four months in custody; Angie Littlewood was sentenced to twelve months in custody suspended for two years; and Helmy Omar Sa’aid was sentenced to two years in custody.
Christian and Angie Littlewood have also been prohibited by the FSA from performing any function in relation to any regulated activity carried out by an authorised person, exempt person or exempt professional firm, pursuant to section 56 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, on the grounds they were not fit and proper persons.
If for any reason the sums are not paid within six months, the Littlewoods will be liable to serve an extra three years in prison.
Tracey McDermott, director of enforcement and financial crime said:
“Insider dealers are motivated by greed and a belief that they can make easy money at the expense of others. A key part of our strategy is to ensure that those who are convicted of insider dealing do not keep their ill-gotten gains.
“As a result of their actions the Littlewoods have not only received custodial sentences and seen their reputations and future careers destroyed they have also paid a sum in confiscation significantly greater than the profit from the indicted trading alone. The Orders made today, coupled with the sentences previously imposed, should make it clear that insider dealing does not pay.”
Background
- Christian Littlewood and Angie Littlewood were also ordered to pay a costs order of £33,000 each to the FSA.
- The FSA has previously secured 20 convictions in relation to insider dealing: Christopher McQuoid and James William Melbourne in March 2009; Matthew and Neel Uberoi in November 2009, Malcolm Calvert on 11 March 2010, Anjam Ahmad on 22 June 2010, Neil Rollins on 21 January 2011, Christian Littlewood and Angie Littlewood on 8 October 2010 and Helmy Omar Sa'aid on 10 January 2011, Rupinder Sidhu on 15 December 2011, James and Miranda Sanders together with James Swallow in May 2012 and Ali Mustafa, Pardip Saini, Paresh Shah, Neten Shah, Bijal Shah and Truptesh Patel on 27 July 2012. Details of each case are available on the FSA website.
- The FSA is currently prosecuting 4 other individuals for insider dealing:
- Thomas Ammann Trial date to be confirmed
- Christina Weckwerth Trial date to be confirmed
- Jessica Mang Trial date to be confirmed
- Richard Joseph Trial date to be confirmed
- In calculating the benefit figure in this joint enterprise the FSA had regard to not only the profits generated but also the application of the statutory provisions of Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) that incorporated gross sales proceeds and trading in non-indicted stocks over several years.
- The Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 gives the FSA powers to investigate and prosecute insider dealing, defined by The Criminal Justice Act 1993.
- Individuals with information about market abuse can call the FSA’s market abuse hotline on 020 7066 4900.
- The FSA regulates the financial services industry and has four objectives under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000: maintaining market confidence; securing the appropriate degree of protection for consumers; fighting financial crime; and contributing to the protection and enhancement of the stability of the UK financial system.
- The FSA will be replaced by the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority in 2013. The Financial Services Bill currently undergoing parliamentary scrutiny is expected to receive Royal Assent by the end of 2012.