Ex-Goldman Sachs Analyst Fined £587,000 for Insider Trading.
A former analyst at Goldman Sachs has been ordered by a London court to pay £587,000 following his conviction for insider dealing and fraud. Mohammed Zina, who was found guilty last year and sentenced to 22 months in prison, must pay the amount based on the assets currently available to him.
On Wednesday, Southwark Crown Court issued the confiscation order, which totals £586,711 (€701,932), as confirmed by both the court and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which brought the prosecution.
The court determined that Zina had benefited by £1.1 million from his illegal activities, which included insider trading and fraudulently obtaining loans from Tesco Bank. Zina was instructed to pay the confiscated amount from his present assets.
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The 36-year-old was prosecuted alongside his brother, Suhail Zina, a former lawyer at the prestigious UK law firm Clifford Chance, in one of the FCA's most prominent insider trading cases in recent years. A jury unanimously found Mohammed Zina guilty on all nine counts of insider dealing and fraud. Suhail Zina was acquitted before the trial concluded after the FCA withdrew the fraud charges against him and the court ruled there was no case to answer.
The trial revealed that Zina made approximately £140,000 in profits from trading stocks, including those of semiconductor company Arm and pub chain Punch Taverns. His largest gain was a £55,000 profit from trading in US food firm Snyder’s-Lance. “I cannot help but feel pity for you, because you have thrown away what was undoubtedly a promising career in banking,” remarked Judge Tony Baumgartner at Zina’s sentencing in February last year. “Your reputation now is lost, and it is likely you will never be trusted to work in a position of such responsibility again.”
This case marked the FCA’s first insider dealing conviction in five years, following a period of inactivity partly caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and backlogs in the court system. However, the number of insider dealing cases has risen recently, with several now being heard in court.
Zina has been given three months to pay the confiscation amount. Failure to comply will result in a default prison sentence of five years.
“Insider dealing harms the integrity of our markets. As well as prosecuting insider dealers, we will not allow them to keep any part of their illicit profits,” said Therese Chambers, the FCA’s joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight, in a statement on Friday.
A representative for Zina has yet to respond to requests for comment.
