[ by Howard Haykin ] A British court on Friday sentenced 6 men for their role in a multi-year insider trading scheme, one that ran from 2006 to 2008, and which the Financial Services Authority (FSA) described as its "longest and most complex prosecution."  To untangle this elaborate insider trading ring, the FSA spent thousands of hours pursuing the case, parsing through trades and telephone records. According to the FSA, the men designed an  that allowed them to profit on potential or upcoming takeover offers. Convicted Defendants. Ali Mustafa, a former UBS employee who worked in a printing room, obtained confidential information, which he passed along to a group of traders.  Mr. Mustafa, along with 2 traders - Pardip Saini and Paresh Shah - were each sentenced to 3-1/2 years in prison. The other 3 traders - Bijal Shah, Truptesh Patel, and Neten Shah - received 2 years or less.

[C-I Note: Perhaps, this group was in some way affiliated with the expansive insider trading ring organized by Galleon's Raj Rajaratnam.]

In any event, during the relevant period, the group traded on material non-public information and tips about potential or upcoming corporate acquisitions involving such companies as Reuters, Vega, Premier Oil, and Enodis.  All told, the ring generated illicit profits of £732,000, equivalent to more than $1.1 million.

"This is another significant milestone in our fight against insider dealing. This lengthy and complex trial followed many thousands of hours of work by a dedicated team of investigators across our enforcement, markets and intelligence teams to unravel a sophisticated scheme which was designed to enable the defendants to profit from exploiting confidential price sensitive information." -- Tracey McDermott, Acting Director of FSA Enforcement & Financial Crime Division.

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back for the FSA. Since the financial crisis, the British regulator has been trying to step up its effort to police securities violations – and appears to be succeeding.  At the same time, extracted larger fines and sanctions from settlements and convictions involving securities fraud.  Even so, the FSA's reputation has taken a big hit from the Libor manipulation scandal – with lawmakers asking why the FSA did not move more swiftly to rein in banks activities. For further details, go to: [Dealbook, 7/27/12].