The Court of Appeal has signalled that it will uphold custodial sentences for those found guilty of insider dealing.
Christopher McQuoid was an in-house counsel who passed information relating to a company takeover to his father-in-law and profited as a result. In March 2009 he was convicted of insider dealing and given an 8 month prison sentence. Mr McQuoid appealed against his sentence arguing that it should be reduced as his case was during the period when the FSA changed its policy to proceed by prosecution rather than by regulatory proceedings.
This week the Court of Appeal rejected Mr McQuoid's appeal against his sentence holding that it was wrong to think that insider dealing should be dealt with by regulatory proceedings. The court made clear that it is a species of fraud and cheating, that prosecution of offenders in open court is appropriate and that the judge in this case had been right to decide that an immediate custodial sentence was appropriate.
To read our Law Now on the FSA's campaign against market abuse and the criminal prosecution of Mr McQuoid click here.
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Law-Now information is for general purposes and guidance only. The information and opinions expressed in all Law-Now articles are not necessarily comprehensive and do not purport to give professional or legal advice. All Law-Now information relates to circumstances prevailing at the date of its original publication and may not have been updated to reflect subsequent developments.
The original publication date for this article was 12/06/2009.
