Ex-UBS compliance office met trader in private club to exchange inside information court told

Fabiana Adbel-Malek (36), a former UBS compliance officer in London, frequently accessed bank’s internal databases for the latest information on takeovers UBS was working on and improperly passed the details to her friend, Walid Choucair (39) in Tramp, a private Mayfair members club and used burner phones to impart inside information that would net £1.4m in trading profit a jury at London’ Southwark Crown Court heard yesterday. The jury was shown a bill totalling more than £8,700.

The five companies the defendants are accused of illegally trading shares in are Elizabeth Arden Inc., Kabel Deutschland, real estate investment trusts BRE Properties Inc and Northstar Realty Finance Corp and Finance Corp and US energy company Targa Resources Corp.

The Financial Conduct Authority alleged that the two defendants would exchange secret tips or would use untraceable pay-as-you-go mobiles with multiple SIM cards and telephone numbers.

Mr Choucair then placed winning bets on the share price movements of five companies days- or even hours- before their takeovers were publicly announced or reported about in the press, including Kabel Deutschland’s takeover by Vodaphone in June 2013, using contracts for difference, speculative trading products that enable investors to bet on the movement of an underlying security without actually owning it, he netted £1.4m in profit, the FCA claimed.

To speak and text with Choucair, the compliance officer used at least five different SIM cards in her pay-as-you go BlackBerry device, which was the same model as her company-issued phone.

“It was part of her job to read, to hold inside information, which she did it on a regular basis, and would have been wholly aware of the offence of insider dealing because it was part of her job to look for inside information. Ms SAbdel Malek’s position enabled her almost unrestricted access to both database systems”, John McGuinness, QC for the FCA, told the court.

While Mr Choucair will argue that he traded stocks in question, which was not because Ms Abdel-Malek  passed on insider tips to him, Ms Abdel Malek will deny passing on any price sensitive information, the jury heard.

The FCA will call witness from the US via video link as the majority of the stocks traded, including those of Elizabeth Arden, were of US companies involved in proposed takeover where UBS was advising.

Both defendants sat silently in the dock to her the FCA’s case against them, and could possibly face five counts each of insider trading, which carries a maximum seven-year prison sentence. Both defendants deny the charges and the trial will last for several weeks.