Accountant's fine cut after 'spread bet'
Pace accountant gets £250,000 fine for betting on his own company's share price
A chartered accountant who placed spread bets on his company’s share price
using information that was not in the public domain, has had his fine cut from
£300,000 to £250,000.
The cut comes after an appeal to the Financial Services and Markets Tribunal
by James Parker, a former credit risk and treasury manager of Pace Micro
Technology.
Parker adjusted his spread bets after learning that a larger competitor of
Pace had abandoned a possible takeover approach, and that Pace was likely to
issue a profit warning within the next few days.
His appeal followed a ruling by the Financial Services Authority, who
initially imposed the £300,000 fine.
The Tribunal cut his penalty after finding that his ‘abusive profit’ amounted
to £121,742, not £153,942.