LONDON (Reuters) - Three London-based individuals have been arrested on suspicion of insider dealing and money laundering in a "major crackdown" on organised criminal networks, British authorities said on Wednesday.
Almost 40 officers from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and National Crime Agency (NCA) searched three residential London properties and seized digital devices on Feb 1., the FCA said on Wednesday.
A 48-year-old man, a fourth suspect, was interviewed under caution on Tuesday and remains under investigation. The arrested suspects were in their 50s.
Steve Smart, the FCA's joint head of enforcement and market oversight, said the watchdog was committed to combatting organised criminal networks involved in insider dealing, which posed a "significant threat" to the integrity of financial markets in Britain and overseas.
"We work tirelessly, using our own sophisticated monitoring systems and specialist teams, to identify and disrupt people involved at each stage of these trading events from the insider leaking information, people who sell inside information to traders and brokers who facilitate access to the trading market," he said.
Insider trading has carried a maximum penalty of up to 10 years in prison or a fine for offences committed after November 2021 in Britain.
No further details of the alleged offences were disclosed.
The FCA said in a separate notice that suspicious trading by members of organised criminal gangs in products whose underlying securities are British and internationally listed equities forms a "significant component" of the overall volume of suspicious trading it observes in equity markets.