A Hampstead banker who raked in a fortune in Britain’s biggest insider trading scam was jailed for four and a half years.
Martyn Dodgson, 44, used military-grade encryption software and Panamanian bank accounts to cover his tracks in the plot which netted up to £6.7million.
Dodgson, of Well Road, a former managing director of Deutsche Bank’s corporate broking team, is one of the most senior figures in the City of London ever to have been convicted of insider dealing.
Accountant Andrew Hind, 56, a chartered accountant and former Topshop finance worker, was given three and a half years at Southwark Crown Court yesterday (Thursday).
It was described as the largest and most complex insider dealing investigation ever by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
Judge Jeffrey Pegden QC said Dodgson earned £601,000 in 2009, but became obsessed with building up a £5million personal fortune.
The judge said: “In one case you even took home price-sensitive documents which other colleagues were working on at Deutsche Bank in order to affect your insider dealing.”
Hind played “an important role” in the conspiracy, acting “a middle man” in order to help make a profit, Judge Pegden said.
Jurors heard the pair traded tips and make up to £6.7m by trading stocks in companies including nCipher.
The men were told: “You resorted to sophisticated levels of secrecy in order to avoid detection by the authorities.
“This was persistent, prolonged and deliberate dishonest behaviour which you both knew in my judgement was criminal.”
Dodgson admitted he had an Iron Key – an encrypted USB stick that also allows the user to surf the internet with no record being logged of sites visited or searches made – locked in a safe in his Hampstead home.
He said he had forgotten the password, and hadn’t used the device, originally developed for the secret services, for three or four years.
His long-time friend Hind had three Iron Keys of his own, but refused to reveal the password for any of them.
Benjamin Anderson, 71, Iraj Parvizi, 50, and Andrew ‘Grant’ Harrison, 46, were all cleared of the same charge.
A confiscation hearing has been scheduled for April 7 next year.
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