City trader jailed for insider dealing scam – A City trader who spent more than £1m renovating his Georgian townhouse with the profits from an insider dealing scam was jailed for four years today (20 June). James Sanders, 35, snapped up a five-storey property worth £5m a few doors from JK Rowling’s west London residence after making a fortune from a series of illegal deals.
The court heard how Sanders, who once boasted to his father how he would “cane it” on the back of the tip-offs, drew up a plan on how he intended to blow his wealth.
The owner of brokerage company Blue Index had allocated himself a £100,000 car fund, and set aside £500,000 for “miscellaneous” items, including watches, clothes, holidays and wine.
The car enthusiast, who once drove to France to visit his in-laws in a classic Jaguar E-Type, already owned two Ferraris but wanted to buy a Maserati and a Bentley.
Sanders and his wife Miranda, 34, were found to have taken full advantage after they were handed ‘highly sensitive price sensitive commercial, and confidential, information,’ through Mrs Sanders’ sister Annabel.
He was tipped off about takeover deals being worked on by his sister-in-law’s husband in the USA.
With the £1.5m profits Sanders and his wife spent £35,000 on a wine cellar for their home in Edwardes Place, Kensington, as part of a £1m renovation.
They also paid off a mortgage on a second home in (35) Campden Hill Road, Holland Park, also valued in the millions and funded their two young children’s private educations.
Investigators from the Financial Services Authority recovered Sanders’ plan, which he had written on Blue Index headed notepaper, whose slogan was ‘The best way to trade’.
He wrote a series of entries above a £1,610,000 total breaking down how he wanted to spend the money.
According to the judge, these were:
- £60,000 PREMIUM BONDS x2.
- £5000 MAX (WATCH, CLOTHES, HOLS, WINE).
- £100,000 CAR FUND
- £150,000 IMPROVEMENTS TO 35 C.H.R (CAMPDEN HILL ROAD).
Sanders was jailed for four years and his wife was locked up for 10 months.
James Swallow, 33, a fellow director and founder of Blue Index, was also jailed for 10 months.
The trio had admitted a string of insider dealing charges earlier this year after buying shares in Per Se Technologies, Kronos, aQuantive, Getty Images, and Choicepoint.
Sanders’ sister-in-law Annabel McClellan, 39, was sentenced to 11 months in a US federal prison for obstructing an investigation into financial tips she passed to Sanders after overhearing her husband Arnold, 52, a regional managing partner with the financial firm Deloitte, discussing transactions with clients.
Southwark Crown Court heard Sanders had encouraged others to profit from the illicit deals and Blue Index clients made in excess of £12m.
Peter Carter QC, prosecuting, said Sanders thought he was “the golden boy, coming out smelling of roses”.
In one taped call on Blue Index phones, the court heard he boasted to his father, Tim, a double-glazing salesman: “There is no doubt that we will cane it in the next year or two, as these tips are brilliant.”
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