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[webofevil]

A former oil futures broker who went on a weekend drinking binge before blacking out and trading more than 7m barrels of oil has been banned from working in the City for at least five years by the Financial Services Authority.

The FSA discovered illicit trading during a 19-hour period on 29 and 30 June and found that he had sent a text message to his boss saying he would not be able to come to work because a relative was unwell. He had begun trading on 29 July 2009 purportedly on behalf of a customer—dubbed Client A by the FSA—but only one of these trades was actually for the customer who ended up with a position of $8m (£5.3m).

In the early hours of 30 June he traded again, this time from home, and executed such a high volume of trades that he gave a "false and misleading impression as to the supply, demand and price" of Brent oil which was raised to an "abnormal and artificial level". At times he was responsible for 69 per cent of the volume traded.

Alexander Justham, director of markets at the FSA, said: "Perkins' drunkenness does not excuse his market abuse." [Guardian]

No it doesn't, but I think it's rather adorable that they felt they ought to spell this out.


EDIT: The ghost of Hilaire Belloc htfb has been inexplicably but delightfully inspired to contribute the following handy mnemonic:

Drunkenness does not excuse
This dreadful market-trade abuse.
If you are worse the wear for booze
Your drunkenness is no excuse;
If you've been lapping up the juice
The market you must not abuse:
For drunkenness does not excuse
This inexcusable abuse.

Comments

[htfb.livejournal.com]

Not only to spell it out, but to put it into a handy mnemonic rhyme.

Drunkenness does not excuse
This dreadful market-trade abuse.
If you are worse the wear for booze
Your drunkenness is no excuse;
If you've been lapping up the juice
The market you must not abuse:
For drunkenness does not excuse
This inexcusable abuse.

[webofevil.livejournal.com]

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