Ex-BlackRock fund manager given jail time; Goldman Sachs hit with US$120 mln penalty

A former star fund manager in the London office of asset manager BlackRock on Wednesday was sentenced to 12 months in jail after pleading guilty to two counts of insider dealing.

Mark Lyttleton, 45, admitted buying shares in EnCore Oil and Cairn Energy ahead of public announcements from both firms, after hearing privileged information from colleagues.

The Financial Conduct Authority, Britain’s markets regulator, said he made a net profit of about 35,000 pounds by buying the two stocks through an overseas asset manager trading on behalf of a Panamanian-registered company.

Lyttleton is one of the highest-profile figures to be sentenced in Britain for insider trading. His funds were popular with investors during the financial crisis after he posted positive returns. At the peak he personally managed assets worth about 4.5 billion pounds (US$5.6 billion).

Judge Andrew Goymer said an extraordinary aspect of the case was that Lyttleton was already wealthy, he was under no financial pressure and the gains were small relative to his overall earnings.

“It is inexplicable that he should have thrown all of this away in the conduct that he did,” he said. “The defendant had no need for the money because he was earning a good income.”