Former Moore Capital trader pleads guilty to insider dealing A former trader at hedge fund Moore Capital has pleaded guilty to insider dealing, ending an investigation by the UK's financial watchdog that has lasted more than four years. Julian Rifat, an ex-senior execution trader at the group, on Friday entered his guilty plea to a £250,000 conspiracy that he hatched with a former broker over pay-as-you-go mobile phones and that paid for a luxury holiday in Oman. His plea at Southwark Crown Court brings to an end part of the Financial Conduct Authority's largest investigation into insider dealing. Mr Rifat was arrested in March 2010 along with six others in a probe codenamed Tabernula, Latin for "little pub." Police detained him on his 41st birthday at his Oxford home just around the corner from that of the watchdog's then-chief executive, Sir Hector Sants. The investigation and its offshoots have gleaned three guilty pleas including Mr Rifat's. Defendants charged over a separate alleged conspiracy investigated as part of Tabernula face trial in 2016. Mr Rifat's conviction is the second by the FCA of a hedge-fund manager as the watchdog tries to stamp out insider-dealing - a crime that it had not prosecuted before 2008. Its counterparts across the Atlantic, the US Department of Justice, recently secured hefty sentences for insider trading against Matthew Martoma, a former trader at SAC Capital; and Raj Rajaratnam, the founder of the Galleon hedge fund. Mr Rifat, dressed in a navy suit and white shirt, spoke only to enter his plea to one count of insider dealing and to confirm he understood the nature of the charge against him. He removed his glasses to wipe away a single tear as he left the dock. He will be sentenced no later than January, Judge Jeffrey Pegden told him. Mr Rifat, 45, remains on unconditional bail until then. His conviction is in stark contrast with his previous career, which included stints at Dresdner Kleinwort and Brevan Howard as well as Moore Capital. In 2009 Morgan Stanley ranked him as one of their key institutional investors to watch. He was accused by the FCA of passing information he gleaned while working for Moore Capital about companies" capital raisings and share sales to Graeme Shelley, a former broker at Novum Securities, who would then deal in the companies" shares and split the profit with Mr Rifat, the court heard. The FCA accused Mr Rifat of making £250,000 in profit. The single-count indictment included eight instances of insider dealing between June and November 2009 in companies including Barclays and Volkswagen. Mr Shelley pleaded guilty in March and received a two-year suspended sentence. During Mr Shelley's sentencing hearing, Ruby Hamid for the FCA told the court that Mr Shelley paid a holiday company £14,000 in January 2010 for a luxury stay in Oman later that year for Mr Rifat and his wife. Mr Shelley pleaded guilty to another separate conspiracy with Paul Milsom, a former equities dealer at Legal & General Investment Management. He also pleaded guilty last year. Insider dealing investigations are complex and long-running. Nevertheless we are committed to undertaking the painstaking analytical work which is required to bring these cases to court," said Tracey McDermott, the FCA's head of enforcement. In this case, measures were taken by those involved to conceal their activities - this included communicating via unregistered pay-as-you-go mobile telephones and the diversion of trading profits to third parties. Moore Capital and Mr Rifat declined to comment. Additional reporting by Harriet Agnew and Miles Johnson in London