Hong Kong launches insider trading case against Segantii Capital

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Hong Kong’s financial regulator has launched an insider trading case against Segantii Capital Management, the hedge fund run by Blackpool Football Club owner Simon Sadler.

The Securities and Futures Commission said on Thursday that it had started criminal proceedings against the hedge fund as well as Sadler and former trader Daniel LaRocca.

According to a statement by the SFC, the charges relate to dealing in the shares of an unnamed company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange prior to a block trade in June 2017. A block trade is an off-market purchase or sale of a large amount of shares in a single transaction.

Segantii did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Sadler and LaRocca could not be reached for comment.

The fund was launched in 2007 by Sadler, who grew it into a global powerhouse with offices in Hong Kong, New York and London. In 2019, Sadler purchased Blackpool FC, the football club of his home town in the UK, after it went into an insolvency process.

This is a developing story . . . 

Additional reporting by Chan Ho-him and Cheng Leng in Hong Kong