Deutsche Bank Brokers Jailed in Biggest Insider Trading Bust Ever

Two former Deutsche Bank corporate brokers have been sentenced to one of the longest prison terms possible for the crime of insider trading in the UK. As US financial market participants walk free in the streets managing their own “home office” money, Martyn Dodgson and Andrew Hind will be rotting in a Wandsworth prison cell (among the worst reputed of England’s prisons) for up to four and half years for what the judge called “persistent, prolonged and deliberately dishonest behavior.” As Bloomberg reports,the group, including three other defendants, formed part of the FCA’s biggest insider-trading investigation dubbed Operation Tabernula.

The FCA accused Dodgson and Harrison of passing inside information on possible deals from their jobs between 2006 and 2010 to Hind who the agency claimed gave them to Parvizi and Anderson to trade on. All of the men denied the charge. But as Bloomberg reports, the sentences are among the longest handed down in an FCA insider-dealing case…

Martyn Dodgson, 44, was sentenced Thursday in London (to 4 1/2 years in jail) alongside friend and accountant Andrew Hind, who was given a 3 1/2 year prison term for the same offense. The men were found guilty of insider dealing on Monday after a four-month trial.

“This was persistent, prolonged and deliberately dishonest behavior,” Judge Jeffrey Pegden said when handing down the sentence. Dodgson showed a “gross breach of trust.”

The sentences were another victory for the Financial Conduct Authority, which has won 30 convictions for insider trading since it started prosecuting the crime less than a decade ago. The success comes as U.S. prosecutors are struggling with a court ruling that limits their ability to tackle the offense.

Three other defendants in the case, former Panmure Gordon & Co. corporate broker Andrew “Grant” Harrison and day traders Benjamin Anderson and Iraj Parvizi, were acquitted. They also used nicknames including Fatty, Nobu, and Fruit in an effort to disguise their identities.

The group formed part of the FCA’s biggest insider-trading investigation dubbed Operation Tabernula. The FCA already secured three other convictions in relation to the probe.

The sentences are among the longest handed down in an FCA insider-dealing case. Former Moore Capital Management LLC trader Julian Rifat, another target in Tabernula, received a 19-month prison sentence last year after pleading guilty.

Finally, we note that, Dodgson and Hind will probably start their sentences in HM Prison Wandsworth, a Victorian jail south of the Thames known for its poor conditions and violent residents.

The City regulator heralded the case as proof it can hold rule-breakers to account…

“This was an extraordinary and complex case of a type not prosecuted in this country before,” said enforcement boss Mark Steward. “The message is loud and clear, that the FCA will not tolerate sophisticated predatory criminals abusing our markets. This case demonstrates our capability and determination to root out this kind of abuse and ensure our market and the investing public are properly protected.

“Dodgson was an experienced and well-paid banker, well aware that what he was doing constituted a criminal offence and who conspired with Hind to abuse our market and to profit at the expense of the investing public.

“The FCA is committed to detecting this kind of abuse and make the perpetrators fully accountable in accordance with the law.”