In Regulatory Roundup 16 we highlighted the case of Anjam Ahmad, a hedge fund trader with AKO Capital, who profited (that is until the FSA got to hear about it) from having directed trades to a broker (referred to in the Notice as “Broker A”) with which he had entered into an improved commission agreement with. The overall effect was that AKO paid an extra $739K commission, with Ahmad receiving benefits of around £131K.
From the publication of a further Final Notice, Broker A has been revealed as Fabio Massimo De Biase, a CF30 employed by TFS Derivatives Limited, an execution only stockbroking firm.
A financial penalty of £252,239 was imposed upon De Biase being a mixture of disgorgement of gains from the activity (£198K) with the balance being an additional penalty element.
The Final Notice warns that if it wasn’t De Biase’s personal financial hardship – and the traditional 30% reduction for settling at an early stage – the additional penalty would have been £500,000.
To further hit home the seriousness which the FSA attributes to market abuse (if there was ever any doubt) a prohibition order was made against De Biase preventing him for performing any function in relation to any regulated activity.
