By Sam Tobin
LONDON (Reuters) – A former Janus Henderson analyst used confidential information on companies including Daimler, Jet2 and THG to make nearly 1 million pounds ($1.3 million) with his sister and others, prosecutors told a London court on Thursday.
Redinel Korfuzi, 37, is accused of using information he accessed through his job as a research analyst at the asset manager to trade using accounts held by his three co-defendants.
He is charged with conspiracy to commit insider dealing and money laundering between January 2019 and March 2021 alongside his sister Oerta Korfuzi, 36.
The siblings are standing trial with Rogerio de Aquino, 63, and Dema Almeziad, 40, who prosecutors say acted as “secret proxies” for the insider trading.
All four have pleaded not guilty and their trial at Southwark Crown Court began on Thursday, when prosecutors said the defendants made a profit of around 963,000 pounds in relation to 11 companies’ shares.
Tom Forster, a prosecutor representing Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority, said Redinel Korfuzi “was at the absolute centre” of the alleged conspiracy.
“The defendants took advantage of the cloak afforded by national lockdown restrictions … to take the opportunity to execute, while some of them worked from home, their secret plan to conduct criminal trading,” Forster told the jury.
He said most of the facts were not contested by the defendants, but that “what is hotly disputed is the conclusions that you can draw from those facts”.
Janus Henderson is not involved in the criminal case and says it treats any actual or suspected misuse of confidential information with “the greatest seriousness”.
The FCA previously said the asset manager had cooperated fully with its investigation.
The trial is due to conclude in May.
Convictions for insider trading carry a sentence of up to seven years, with up to 14 years for money laundering.
(Reporting by Sam Tobin;Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)
