The FSA have found a pair of analysts guilty of a crime despite there being no definite evidence.
A former Evolution Securities analyst and his friend from university have been charged committing market abuse after two spread bets were placed inside a series of unrecorded mobile phone calls between the pair.
Both spread bets netted the pair £85,541.
Despite there being no concrete evidence, the UK Financial Services and Markets Tribunal found former analyst Robin Chhabra and Sameer Patel, who placed the bets guilty of committing market abuse.
This is a rare case where both were charged based on circumstantial evidence the phone calls between the pair were placed at coincidental times to the spread bets.
Circumstantial evidence is more common in America, however its use is now becoming more common in UK too.
The UK Financial Services and Tribunal found them both guilty and their decision strengths the FSA’s grip on controlling market abuse cases.
