An Albanian man's brilliant career in London as a financial markets analyst has been cut short after he and his sister were convicted of using inside information for monetary gain.
According to Reuters, Redinel Korfuzi, 38, born in Tirana, led the scheme and provided information to his sister Oerta Korfuzi, 36, born in Dibër, benefiting from the share trading of 1 million pounds.
Redinel Korfuzi, a former research analyst with an annual salary of £500,000 a year, was sentenced to six years in prison. His sister Oerta was sentenced to five years in prison.
During the trial they denied the charges but were found guilty by a jury of conspiracy to commit insider trading and money laundering, after a three-month trial at Southark Crown Court in London.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which prosecuted the case, said the pair had used Corfu's access to inside information to "manipulate the system and satisfy their greed".
They took advantage of confidential information about 13 companies by buying and selling shares in these companies and making a profit of almost £1 million. Redinel Corfu obtained inside information about the companies' plans to raise capital or to sell large blocks of shares held by existing shareholders.
He traded shares through several accounts, including those of his sister, who the court heard was aware of the fraud.
As he read out the sentence, Judge Alexander Milne said: "This was greed and arrogance. Everything you have worked for is now over. You will never be trusted to trade again. You both thought you were too clever to get caught."
"There is no doubt," the judge said, "that you were successful in your role, and your former boss spoke of you with admiration. The judge told both of you that it "didn't occur to you" that trading from different accounts using the same computer IP address would leave a "digital footprint."
Over the course of two years, both had earned large sums of money that could not be justified.
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