Regulations
By Steven Anderson
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What the FCA Is Actually Alleging. Insider dealing is a criminal offense under section 52 of the Criminal Justice Act 1993.
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Why This Case Matters Beyond Bloomfield. Solicitors sit at the center of major corporate transactions.
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What Happens Next. The August 5 hearing at Southwark Crown Court is the next real checkpoint.
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Richard Bloomfield is in serious trouble. The Financial Conduct Authority has hit the solicitor with five criminal counts of insider dealing tied to securities transactions…
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The FCA says Bloomfield, who was working at a law firm at the time, got his hands on confidential information about an acquisition involving Seraphine Group and then used it.
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He showed up at Westminster Magistrates' Court but didn't enter a plea. Pretty standard procedure at that stage.
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Insider dealing is a criminal offense under section 52 of the Criminal Justice Act 1993. The law is blunt: you can't use information that isn't publicly available to trade…
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The FCA's case against Bloomfield centers on his professional role. As a solicitor, he would have had access to sensitive deal information — the kind of material that moves stock…
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What's notable here: the FCA is not going after the law firm where Bloomfield worked. No investigation into the firm has been opened.
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Solicitors sit at the center of major corporate transactions. Mergers, acquisitions, restructurings — law firms handle the paperwork, the negotiations, the due diligence.
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Read also: Logbook Lending Collapses Into Administration as BTG Begbies Traynor Takes Control
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It's not just traders on dealing floors who get caught. Professionals in law, accounting, consulting — anyone who touches a deal and gets tempted to act on what they know — can…
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Insider dealing convictions in the UK can carry prison terms of up to seven years. That's the ceiling under the Criminal Justice Act 1993.
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He hasn't entered a plea yet. So there's still a lot that's unclear about how his defense will approach this. Maybe he contests the FCA's version of events entirely.
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The August 5 hearing at Southwark Crown Court is the next real checkpoint. That's where the case starts to take shape in a more serious legal setting.
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