Ex-Goldman Sachs banker who ‘tried to talk his way out of’ arrest is convicted of insider trading

A former Goldman Sachs analyst who prosecutors say tried to “talk his way out of” being arrested for insider trading was found guilty in a London court on Thursday.

Mohammed Zina, 35, was convicted of insider trading and fraud by a jury in London after he used information obtained through his job to buy stocks of companies that netted him more than $175,000 in ill-gotten gains.

Zina, who is due to be sentenced on Friday, received information which led him to buy stock of chip maker Arm Holdings and bar owner Punch Taverns, according to Financial Times.

 

 

After his arrest in December 2017, Zina declined to have a lawyer present during his first interrogation by British securities.

“Is it perhaps an indication that Mohammed Zina thought he could talk his way out of it?” Peter Carter, one of the prosecutors handling the case, told the jury during closing arguments on Wednesday.

When the jury unanimously convicted him of all nine counts, Zina reportedly held his head in his hands. He faces a maximum of 10 years imprisonment.

Zina’s attorneys tried to convince the jury to show leniency, highlighting the fact that he was raised by a single mother and that he held a weekend job at a supermarket because he “missed working with ordinary people.”

But prosecutors successfully argued that Zina obtained fraudulent loans in order to “cheat the market for his own personal gain by cynically trading on inside information.”

Steve Smart, joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority, said the conviction “sends a clear message that economic crime is on our radar and we will take action to uphold the integrity of UK markets.”

Prosecutors said he used confidential information to buy shares in six companies between July 2016 and December 2017, including Arm Holdings with knowledge of SoftBank Group’s impending $32 billion acquisition.

He had pleaded not guilty to six counts of insider dealing and three counts of fraud for allegedly lying to Tesco Bank about the purpose of loans, which prosecutors said were used to buy the shares.

“Mohammed Zina betrayed the trust we placed in him and his misuse of client information was in direct contradiction of our values. We have zero tolerance for this conduct,” a Goldman Sachs spokesperson told Reuters.

Carter told jurors at the start of the trial that Zina used “private, confidential, price-sensitive information” to invest on the stock exchange.

He said Goldman Sachs’ internal policies strictly forbid any use of confidential information acquired by the investment bank or its employees.

“To breach a confidence or to use confidential information improperly or carelessly would be unthinkable,” he quoted the policy as saying.

This is the latest insider trading scandal involving Goldman. In September, a former analyst at the firm was charged with leaking insider information about mergers and acquisitions to his friends — who then allegedly used the tips to make stock purchases that netted them nearly $500,000.

Anthony Viggiano, 26, of Baldwin, LI, worked as an associate at Goldman’s asset and wealth management division after a stint at Blackstone.

He and three others have been charged with securities fraud.

 

Source: New York post