FSA get tough on insider trading

The Financial Services Authority has handed out their biggest ever fine on an individual. Britain’s financial regulators fined Mehmet Sepil, chief executive of Genel Enerji, Plc a whopping £959,293 ($1.5 million)

The Turkish oil executive was fined for insider trading of shares from Heritage Oil Plc. The FSA also fined Murat Ozgul who is Sepil Chief Commercial Officer and exploration manager Levent Akca. This came about when the men purchased shares when they were told that the company had struck oil in the Kurdish region of Iraq. The next day the company announced their findings lifting its shares 25 percent.

The men shave denied in a statement that had in fact they were unaware their actions broke any rules. The FSA have said that they had decided against launching criminal proceedings because it accepted their pleas, “We do want people to be aware that coming forward does bring benefits,” Margaret Cole, the FSA’s director of enforcement at the FSA.

This fine exceeds the 750,000 pounds given to Philippe Jabre, the former hedge fund manager at GLG Partners Inc., in 2006. To read more on this story go to businessweek.com.