Ex-CLSA banker jailed in HK for insider trading

I / Hong Kong July 21, 2009, 19:01 IST

A former banker at one of Asia's top stock brokerages and an ex-fund manager have been jailed in Hong Kong for insider trading that reaped illegal profits of more than half a million dollars, regulators said.

Allen Lam, former investment banking director at broker CLSA, was sentenced yesterday to six months in prison and ordered to pay fines of 69,000 Hong Kong dollars, the territory's Securities and Futures Commission said in a statement.

His friend Ryan Fong, a former fund manager at HSZ (Hong Kong), received a one-year jail term and was fined nearly HK dollar 1.4 million.

The two pleaded guilty earlier this month in what regulators said was a scheme to illegally profit from the proposed takeover of Media Partners International Holdings by JCDecaux Pearl & Dean in 2005.

Lam was accused of using his position at CLSA, JCDecaux's financial adviser in the acquisition, to access confidential information and tip off Fong.

The two communicated through e-mail about the progress of the takeover, using a codename "the French car" to refer to the deal, according to the SFC.

Fong then bought shares in Media Partners, dumping them once the deal was announced for a profit of HK 1.03 million dollars for himself and HK 3.39 million dollars for an HSZ fund.