L&G employee arrested in trading probe A 44-year-old man employed at Legal & General Investment Management, one of the UK's largest investment firms, has been arrested by the Financial Services Authority. It is the regulator's ninth arrest in two years in connection with its largest operation against alleged insider trading. The regulator, along with Serious Organised Crime Agency, launched a pre-breakfast raid on a City firm and two domestic premises, one in London and one in Kent, as part of its continuing investigation codenamed "Tabernula," which is probing a group of individuals and alleged trades of up to £22m. The latest arrest, of a City individual, is part of the FSA's probe into deals spanning three years to 2010 in shares in companies such as Paragon, Barclays, Scottish & Newcastle, National Express, Petrofac, Wolseley and Collins Stewart. In March 2010, more than 140 officers from Soca and the FSA carried out dawn raids on 16 addresses across London and the south-east seizing documents and computers. Seven men were arrested: Julian Rifat, a trader at hedge fund Moore Capital; Martyn Dodgson, a corporate adviser at Deutsche Bank; Graeme Shelley, a broker at Novum Securities; Clive Roberts, trader at Exane BNP Paribas; Iraj Parvizi, an Iranian-born businessman and investor in small-cap stocks; Ben Anderson, a private stock broker; and Andrew Hind, a director of Deskspace Offices. The FSA arrested an eighth man in April 2011. The ninth man, arrested on Thursday, is believed to have been a trader and have worked at LGIM for several years. The regulator is investigating spread bets placed on the movement of shares of at least 500 companies between October 2007 and January 2010 that allegedly made profits of at least £21.6m. The FSA has alleged that the value of trading derived from inside information may be at least £12.7m. Officers are looking at whether information flowed through at least three separate channels, allegedly feeding through to one or two central characters who then traded on the tips. One strand of the investigation was triggered by suspicious trading ahead of an announcement by Carlsberg, the brewer, on October 17 2007 concerning a bid for Scottish & Newcastle. All individuals arrested were interviewed under caution and then released on bail. They have not been charged with any offence, and are believed to deny any wrongdoing. Insider trading is a crime with a maximum sentence of seven years. The FSA, which is in the process of being split into two agencies by the government, has stepped up efforts to clamp down on insider trading in recent years. It has so far secured 11 convictions and is in the process of prosecuting 16 other individuals for alleged insider dealing.