A former Credit Suisse Group banker was found guilty in a $7.8m scheme to tip off a friend on nine pending buyouts, becoming the first person convicted by a jury in a federal insider trading crackdown begun last year.
Hafiz Muhammad Zubair Naseem, a Pakistani citizen, gave confidential information to Ajaz Rahim, the former head of investment banking for Faysal Bank Ltd. in Karachi, a Manhattan jury found today.
Rahim sometimes traded on the tips within ten minutes of Naseem's call, the government said.
Prosecutors were able to convict Naseem through patterns of trades and other circumstantial proof of insider trading. They lacked a witness to directly implicate him in the trades and relied instead on telephone calls, e-mails and computer records.
Naseem was convicted of conspiracy and 28 insider trading counts. He faces over ten in prison under federal guidelines at his sentencing scheduled for April 7. US District Judge Robert Patterson ordered him to be jailed today. Naseem's lawyer said he would appeal.
