Two years in prison for insider dealing

In a case brought by the Financial Services Authority (FSA), Paul Milsom, a senior equities trader, was this week sentenced at Southwark Crown Court to two years imprisonment for disclosing inside information. A confiscation order was also made in the sum of £245,000.

During the time in question (between October 2008 and March 2010) Milsom was an FSA approved person employed by Legal and General Investment Management (Holdings) Ltd (LGIM). Milsom disclosed inside information relating to forthcoming transactions in securities by LGIM.

When sentencing, His Honour Judge Pegden indicated that he had given Milsom full credit for pleading guilty at the earliest opportunity and extra credit for entering into a plea agreement with the FSA.

“This case involved serious offending over a number of years, conducted in a sophisticated way using deliberate techniques to avoid detection,” said Tracey McDermott, director of enforcement at FSA. “Milsom was an approved person who was entrusted by his employer with sensitive and valuable information. He betrayed that trust by exploiting the information for his own benefit.”

No criticism was made of Legal and General.