Six UK bank workers sentenced for insider trading

LONDON—Six workers at London investment banks convicted of insider trading have received prison sentences ranging from 18 months to 3 ½ years for their roles in stealing confidential documents for use in spread betting. The six were found guilty earlier this week of using sensitive insider information stolen from the mailrooms at the London offices of UBS and JP Morgan Cazenove.

Their bets on expected mergers involving media and oil companies produced gambling profits exceeding £730 million (US$1.1 billion) over a two-year period ending in mid-2008. Sentencing the six men yesterday at a south London court, Judge Jeffrey Pegden told them that a “meticulous and exhaustive” investigation by Britain’s Financial Services Authority “revealed exactly how your cheating was perpetrated.”

AP