Swiss firm loses $1.2mn insider-trading bail fight

Bloomberg

A Swiss wealth manager embroiled in an insider-trading case linked to Air Liquide SA’s $13.2 billion takeover of Airgas Inc. has lost his bid to avoid posting bail of 1 million euros ($1.2 million).
A ruling from France’s top court revealed that a man identified as Thierry Z., working for wealth-management firm Stokors SA, was charged by criminal authorities late last year “for enabling the acquisition of shares by a third party on the basis of insider information.”
The charges relate to a transaction that generated a 4.4 million-euro profit for his client, Mr. A., according to the previously unreported April 10 ruling at Paris’s Cour de Cassation that was posted online last week.
French criminal enforcers are taking a renewed interest in hunting down insider trades in a country where such cases rarely make the headlines. The most prominent insider-trading case in recent years, involving top executives at the entity that became Airbus SE, collapsed in spectacular fashion after almost a decade of investigations when their defense lawyers successfully argued double jeopardy.

Adding Pressure
While a milllion-euro bail was also required of former co-Chief Executive Officer Noel Forgeard, it’s not usual for investigators to demand such high amounts from individuals. Still, French investigators are requesting bail more often in white collar cases as a way to increase pressure on suspects, according to Alexandre Bisch, a lawyer at
Debevoise & Plimpton in Paris.
“One million euros isn’t trivial,” Bisch said by phone, explaining that the seriousness of the infringement isn’t the most important criterion in setting the amount. “It depends on the wealth of the individual so that the measure hurts while remaining measured.”
The case involving the wealth manager concerns allegations certain people were tipped off in advance that Air Liquide was going to acquire Airgas and that they traded on the knowledge, according to a person familiar with the case, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The judges upheld a non-public ruling from a lower court that said the 1 million-euro bail was needed to ensure Mr. Z., who is a Swiss national and resident, doesn’t vanish during the probe, and to cover for any penalties and damages in case of a conviction. The top court judges reiterated that the lower court had required the bond be posted by March 1. The man’s lawyer declined to comment.
France’s financial prosecutor, known as the Parquet National Financier, declined to comment.