On February 21, 2012 Financial Services Authority (FSA) has obtained an interim injunction at the High Court against Stuart Carl Mudge and Anthony John Lewis regarding their involvement in the Churchgate Trading Syndicate (Churchgate). The injunction prevents them from accepting any further investments into Churchgate, or making any new trades on behalf of the syndicate with investor funds. Assets belonging to both Mudge and Lewis have also been frozen.

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On February 16, 2012 Financial Services Authority (FSA) fined Andrew Osborne, former Managing Director in Corporate Broking at Merrill Lynch International (now Bank of America Merrill Lynch International) £350,000, for engaging in market abuse by improperly disclosing inside information ahead of a significant equity fundraising by Punch Taverns Plc (Punch) in June 2009. Osborne acted on behalf of Punch and approached Greenlight Capital Inc (Greenlight), a major shareholder at the time. Greenlight refused to be wall-crossed1 yet on 9 June 2009, Osborne proceeded with a conference call between Punch management and David Einhorn, President of Greenlight.

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On January 11, 2012 Financial Services Authority (FSA) charged Richard Anthony Joseph, with eight counts of insider dealing and two counts of money laundering. Joseph, who is 42 years of age attended City of London Magistrates Court today (Wednesday 11th January 2012). Joseph was sent for trial and will next appear at Southwark Crown Court on 6 March 2012. He is on conditional bail.

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On January 31, 2012 Financial Services Authority (FSA) fined Ravi Shankar Sinha £2.867 million for fraudulently obtaining £1.367 million for himself from a company owned by a private equity fund advised by JC Flowers by means of a fictitious invoicing scheme. The financial penalty consists of £1.367 million disgorgement and a punitive element of £1.5 million. Sinha is also prohibited from performing any function in relation to any regulated activity in the financial services industry.

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On January 27, 2012 Financial Services Authority (FSA) published that authority has fined Alexander Ten-Holter, trader and former compliance officer at Greenlight Capital (UK) LLP £130,000 for failing to question and make reasonable enquiries before selling Greenlight’s shareholding in Punch Taverns plc ahead of an anticipated significant equity fundraising by Punch in June 2009, and prohibited him from performing Compliance Oversight and Money Laundering reporting functions. The FSA has also fined Caspar Agnew, a trading desk director at JP Morgan Cazenove, £65,000 for failing to identify and act on a suspicious order from Greenlight to sell Punch shares that allowed the firm to be used to facilitate insider dealing or market abuse.

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On January 25, 2012 Financial Services Authority (FSA) published that authority has decided to fine David Einhorn, owner of the prominent US hedge fund Greenlight Capital Inc, and his fund £7.2 million for engaging in market abuse in relation to an anticipated significant equity fundraising by Punch Taverns Plc in June 2009. On 9 June 2009, Einhorn was a party to a telephone conference in which it was disclosed to him by a corporate broker acting on behalf of Punch Taverns Plc that Punch was at an advanced stage of the process towards a significant equity fundraising. This was inside information and Einhorn should have appreciated this.

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On November 09, 2011 U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced that the filing of a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, against GID Group, Inc., a Texas corporation, and its agents and officers, brothers Rodney and Roger. The defendants, both of Grand Prairie, Texas, were charged with operating a fraudulent off-exchange foreign currency ‘Ponzi” scheme in which they solicited and accepted approximately $5.5 million. On November 8, 2011, the Honorable Barbara M. G. Lynn of the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Texas, entered a restraining order freezing the defendants’ assets and prohibiting the destruction of all books and records.

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On September 08, 2011 Financial Services Authority (FSA) published that authority has fined Essex based mortgage lender Swift 1st Limited (Swift) £630,000 for unfair treatment of some customers facing mortgage arrears. The firm has also agreed to carry out a programme to provide redress to customers who were in arrears, and who were charged certain arrears fees and charges that were excessive.

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On August 22, 2011 Financial Services Authority (FSA) published that the three men were sentenced today at Southwark Crown Court to a total of 19 years in jail for boiler room fraud, following a long running and detailed investigation by the Financial Services Authority (FSA), City of London Police (CoLP) and Eurojust. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) conducted the prosecution. Tomas Wilmot, the ringleader of the operation, has been sentenced to nine years imprisonment, while his sons Kevin and Christopher were given five years imprisonment each. The sentences were passed following the individuals' convictions on four offences of conspiracy to defraud which resulted in £14 million of losses.

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On August 16, 2011 Financial Services Authority (FSA) fined Sir Ken Morrison £210,000 for breaching the Disclosure and Transparency Rules (DTR) by failing to disclose his reduced shareholding and voting rights in Wm Morrison Supermarkets Plc. Shortly after his retirement as Chairman of Wm Morrison, the company announced on 28 March 2008 that Sir Ken had a notifiable holding of voting rights of 6.38%. After the announcement on 28 March 2008 there were no further shareholding notifications made concerning Sir Ken’s holdings until 1 March 2011 – just under three years later – despite the fact that he had reduced his holdings during that period to 0.9%.

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On August 15, 2011 Financial Services Authority (FSA) published that the Upper Tribunal (Tax and Chancery Chamber) has directed the Financial Services Authority (FSA) to fine Michiel Weiger Visser £2 million and Oluwole Modupe Fagbulu £100,000 and ban them both from performing any role in regulated financial services for breaching Principle 1 of the FSA’s Statements of Principle for Approved Persons and for engaging in market abuse.

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On July 5, 2011 Financial Services Authority (FSA) published that the authority banned two insurance brokers, Andrew Porter and Alexander Brincat, from working in the financial services industry. It has also withdrawn the permissions of Brincat’s insurance firm; Wise Owl Services Limited (Wise Owl), Porter was the sole shareholder and the only broker at Porter Insurance which specialised in providing insurance policies for businesses and individuals.

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On June 13, 2011 Financial Services Authority (FSA) published that the authority gave Mr Gary John Hexley a Decision Notice which stated that it had decided to publish a statement of his misconduct, pursuant to section 66 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (“the Act”), in respect of a failure to comply with Statement of Principle 2 of the FSA’s Statements of Principle and Code of Practice for Approved Persons.

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On June 29, 2011 Financial Services Authority (FSA) published that the authority gave Peter Stephen Fox (“Mr Fox”) a Decision Notice on 29 June 2011 which notified Mr Fox that the FSA had decided to take the following action against him: (1) publish a statement of Mr Fox’s misconduct pursuant to section 66 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (“the Act”), for failing to comply with Statements of Principle 2 and 7 of the FSA’s Statements of Principle and Code of Practice for Approved Persons.

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On June 24, 2011 Financial Services Authority (FSA) published that the authority as directed by the Upper Tribunal (Tax and Chancery Chamber) in its decision of 3 June 2011, and pursuant to Section 206 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (the “Act”), the FSA hereby imposes on the Fox Hayes partnership comprising Mr John Robert Manning, Mr Stephen Maurice Coupland, Mr Ian David Coupland, Mr Philip Leigh Drazen, Mr Malcolm Richard Jones, Mr RichardGeraint Jones, Mr Colin Peter Frazer and Mr Ian Brill a financial penalty of £68,215.50; and imposes on the Fox Hayes partnership comprising the partners named above with the exception of Mr Brill a financial penalty of £386,554.50.

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