Christopher McQuoid, the UK lawyer found guilty last week in the FSA’s first-ever criminal prosecution for insider dealing (previously discussed here), was sentenced to jail for eight months today. His father-in-law who was also found guilty, James Melbourne, was given the same sentence, but the sentence was suspended because of his age (74), the Times Online reports.
The case is viewed as an important milestone for the UK’s FSA. According to the Times Online, Carlos Conceicao, a partner at Clifford Chance, said: “Imprisonment for McQuoid is an important outcome for the FSA. The possibility of imprisonment as a sanction is after all the biggest differentiator between pursuing an insider dealing case criminally or through the civil regime. The FSA will feel fully vindicated in having prosecuted this case.”
