Court Rules No Case to Answer for Allison Clare KC’s client in Insider Dealing case

February 15, 2024

Allison Clare KC achieved a significant victory for her client Suhail Zina, a former solicitor at Clifford Chance.

At the close of the prosecution case, Allison made both legal submissions (including about the proper application of accessorial liability to insider dealing) and evidential submissions on behalf of her client. The FCA then offered no evidence on three counts of fraud and the court directed there was no case to answer on the six remaining counts of Insider Dealing. The FCA had previously highlighted this prosecution as one of its key enforcement cases.

On February 2nd, 2024, at Southwark Crown Court, upon the Judge’s direction, the jury delivered not guilty verdicts on all nine counts faced by Suhail Zina.

Suhail Zina was arrested by the FCA in December 2017 and accused of assisting his brother, Mohammed Zina, to trade based on inside information obtained during his employment at Goldman Sachs. This post was delayed until the conclusion of the trial against Mohammed Zina.

Allison Clare KC led Alex dos Santos of Serjeants’ Inn and was instructed by Danny Cundy, Naureen Shariff, and Samantha Christien of Blackfords LLP.

Allison Clare KC is Head of the Business Crime & Fraud Practice Group in Chambers. She specialises in all aspects of corporate and individual white collar crime, acting in criminal cases and advising major corporate clients: [Allison Clare KC Profile]

News stories:
[Reuters]
[Financial Times]
[Bloomberg]