A former analyst at asset manager Janus Henderson and his sister have been jailed for a combined 11 years for insider dealing and money laundering which netted them more than £1m.

Redinel Korfuzi, 38, was sentenced to six years imprisonment, and his sister, Oerta Korfuzi, sentenced to five years imprisonment at Southwark Crown Court on Friday.

Mr Korfuzi took advantage of his position as a research analyst at Janus Henderson to share confidential information he had access to that was likely to have an impact on companies’ share prices.

He shared the information with his sister Oerta to rig the system and make money.

Mr Korfuzi regularly saw emails from companies gauging investor interest on plans to raise equity in the markets or sell large blocks of shares owned by existing shareholders. Within minutes, Mr Korfuzi traded in the shares of those companies across a number of accounts, including those operated by his sister.

They used contracts for difference (CFDs), taking positions that the value of the relevant shares would go down and closing the positions after the market announcements.

The suspicious trading was detected by the FCA’s market monitoring systems despite their arrangements which were designed to conceal Mr Korfuzi’s involvement in the trading and to maximise profits.

They were charged with insider dealing and money laundering in January and February 2023.

The case centred on 13 stocks, traded between 17 December 2019 and 25 March 2021, which generated a profit of more than £960,000. The FCA detected suspicious patterns of trading and analysed large sets of trading data to uncover the crime. 

The Korfuzis were arrested in March 2021 as part of a search operation, which was carried out alongside the Metropolitan Police.

FCA investigators also uncovered an international money laundering operation. While the source of the cash remains unknown, 173 deposits were made into accounts controlled or operated by the siblings from the UK to Albania.

It included nearly £25,000 of cash in English and Scottish bank notes that was found in two bags during the search of a safety deposit box in Knightsbridge.

Steve Smart, joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight, said: “The Korfuzis exploited their privileged position and the confidential inside information they had access to. They rigged the system to satisfy their greed.

"We’re committed to working with our law enforcement partners to fight financial crime and taking forceful action against individuals who undermine the integrity of our markets.”

The FCA has begun proceedings under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 to ensure the benefit of the criminality is removed.