On December 21, 2016, Mark Lyttleton, formerly an Equity Portfolio Manager at BlackRock Investment Management (UK) Limited, was sentenced to 12 months jail (reduced from 18 months) on two counts of insider dealing. Mr. Lyttleton was an Investment Portfolio Manager at Blackrock Investment Management (UK) Ltd. Mr. Lyttleton had acted on inside information he obtained by working on deals relating to the relevant stocks and by being a party to conversations conducted by colleagues. The criminal offence of insider dealing is punishable by a fine or up to seven years imprisonment. The FCA charged Mr. Lyttleton with three counts of insider dealing pursuant to the Criminal Justice Act 1993 on September 29, 2016. On November 2, 2016, Mr. Lyttleton pleaded guilty to two counts of insider dealing at Southwark Crown Court. The third charge was subsequently dropped. In addition to the prison sentence, a confiscation order was made in the sum of £149,861.27, and costs were awarded to the FCA totaling £83,225.62.
The FCA press release outlining a summary of the case facts is available at: https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releases/mark-lyttleton-sentenced-12-months-imprisonment-insider-dealing .
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