Ex-Moore Europe Capital employee Julian Rifat sentenced to 19 months for insider trading
Former Moore Europe Capital employee Julian Rifat was sentenced to 19 months imprisonment at Southwark Crown Court yesterday for insider trading.
Rifat has also been fined £100,000 for the same offences and ordered to pay costs of £159,402.
He was the third individual to be sentenced for insider dealing offences since the launch of Operation Tabernula, the largest and most complex Financial Conduct Authority probe to date.
Rifat was found guilty of passing valuable inside information to associate Graeme Shelley, who proceeded to use the information to trade for their joint benefit.
Shelly, who previously worked as a broker at Novum Securities, pleaded guilty to insider dealing with Rifat and a second associate, Paul Milsom, in March 2014.
Milson, a former employee at General Insurance Management, had pleaded guilty to the charge of insider trading in March 2013.
Mr Justice McCreath said that Rifat had acted “deliberately and dishonestly”, but gave him credit for his guilty plea saying: “Mr Rifat was a very experienced market professional.
“He was privy to highly sensitive information at the heart of some of the largest transactions in the UK financial markets during the latter half of 2009.
“Mr Rifat’s behaviour exploited financial markets during a particularly challenging time.
“The smooth running of our financial markets requires market professionals to play by the rules.”