Trader fined £1.3m by FSA
THE Financial Services Authority (FSA) has banned a trader for market abuse and ordered him to pay more than £1.3m in damages.
Self-employed trader Barnett Michael Alexander was fined £700,000 and ordered to pay £322,818 in restitution to firms that experienced a loss as a result of his actions. An additional £306,312 was also transferred to the firms.
Alexander, 47, told City A.M. he was baffled by the charges, claiming he was unaware he was breaking any rules. He said: “In no way did I realise what I was doing was market abuse.”
He says he believed he had developed a strategy that exploited an inefficiency in the market and called for greater clarity in the rules. “This is a massive charge from a high-powered division to bring on a sole trader,” he said.
The FSA says Alexander – known as Barney – manipulated the prices of shares on the London Stock Exchange in a complex scheme that involved entering multiple small buy and sell orders, often in the name of third parties.
He generated £629,130 by trading CFDs and spread bets at the prices he created through his share price manipulation over a period of around 16 months. His fine was reduced from £1m after he cooperated with the FSA.
Tracey McDermott (pictured), the FSA’s acting director of enforcement and financial crime, said: “The FSA views market manipulation extremely seriously. Alexander’s behaviour was deliberate and repeated over a significant period of time.
He sought to conceal his trading and made substantial profits at the expense of the firms which allowed him to trade with them. The court action shows the FSA’s determination to use all our powers to prevent market abuse and to pursue those who commit it.”