(Bloomberg) — A former Janus Henderson analyst accused of insider trading said he didn’t closely read compliance documents as he was too busy trying to save the firm’s “dying fund.”
Redinel Korfuzi is accused of conspiring with his sister and others to trade on insider information he obtained while working as an analyst on Janus Henderson’s European equity investment team.
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority, which is prosecuting the case, alleges that he helped his sister, girlfriend and personal trainer make short bets on stocks just before they issued new equity to the market.
“I was working 24/7 for that job,” Korfuzi said at Southwark Crown Court on Thursday. “I saved their dying fund, it was maybe the best performing fund in Europe.”
Korfuzi, who was a mutual fund analyst before being arrested in March 2021, would be privy to insider information on companies that were sounding out potential investors for equity raises, prosecutors said.
Online trading accounts managed by Korfuzi’s sister made a number of short bets using contracts-for-difference — effectively highly leveraged derivative bets that the stocks would fall.
The wagers were often placed just minutes after Redinel Korfzi was informed that a particular company would be issuing new shares to the market as part of his role at Janus Henderson, while the two worked next to each other during the pandemic lockdowns in 2020 and early 2021, the jury was told.
Compliance documents issued to Korfuzi required him to make disclosures about the trading activity, but he told the court that he had not read the document closely as he was busy trying to rescue Janus Henderson’s ailing portfolio.
“I was extremely busy saving a dying fund,” he said in court.
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