Insider dealing three in court
CITY watchdog the Financial Services Authority (FSA) yesterday hauled two lawyers and a former finance chief into court, amid its “be afraid” crackdown on fraud.
The FSA accused Andrew King, formerly finance head of Manchester-based Neutec Pharma, of disclosing inside information about the company to lawyer Michael McFall ahead of last Wednesday’s takeover of the firm by Swiss pharmaceutical Novartis.
Novartis last week bid £10.50 a share for Neutec – more than double its share price at the time.
McFall, a former partner at McDermott Will & Emery, faced charges of buying 3,955 Neutec shares based on inside talk and also of passing the information on to Andrew Rimmington, a former partner at Dorsey & Whitney.
Rimmington is charged with acquiring a total of 6,961 shares in Neutec Pharma and the lawyers are also charged with jointly buying 3012 shares based on the information.
Rimmington and King have denied the charges via lawyers while McFall has yet to comment.
They spoke only to confirm their names when they appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court and were released on unconditional bail.