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.
