FSA fines father and son duo £180,000 for insider trading
A FATHER and son duo were yesterday slapped with £179,200 of insider dealing fines from the Financial Services Authority (FSA), in relation to their dealing in shares of oil and gas explorer Tower Resources.
Jeremy Burley used his position as managing director of Ugandan equipment provider BMS Minerals to glean inside information on Tower Resources’ first oil well in Uganda, which looked unlikely to produce any oil, the FSA said.
He then passed that knowledge on to his father, Jeffery Burley, who managed a share trading account in the UK on his behalf, instructing him to sell his entire holding of 790,000 Tower Resources shares. The pair thereby avoided a significant financial loss when the firm announced the news on 15 June last year.
The regulator said that Jeremy Burley’s fine of £144,200 included repayment of the £21,700 benefit he made through his actions and reflected a lack of co-operation during the investigation. It added that Burley advised his father to sell the shares in multiple lots in order to try and disguise his true intentions.
Jeffery Burley was fined £35,000 for his part in the market abuse.