Paul Milsom, a senior trader at the firm, was sentenced to two years in prison for disclosing inside information relating to forthcoming transactions in securities by LGIM between October 2008 and March 2010. A confiscation order was also made for £245,000.
Milsom was given credit for pleading guilty at the earliest opportunity and extra credit for entering into a plea agreement with the FSA.
Tracey McDermott, director of enforcement said: “This case involved serious offending over a number of years, conducted in a sophisticated way using deliberate techniques to avoid detection. Milsom was an approved person who was entrusted by his employer with sensitive and valuable information. He betrayed that trust by exploiting the information for his own benefit.
“Those who work within the industry should be the custodians of its reputation. Milsom’s approach could not have been further from that. His personal greed will have cost him his reputation, his career and his liberty. Those who think there is easy money to be made from insider dealing should think again.”
The FSA makes no criticism of LGIM. LGIM declined to comment.