Darwin’s Desire leads to abuse by Byron

Darwin Lewis Clifton OBE should really have known that it would be market abuse to encourage Byron Holdings Ltd, of which he was a director, to invest in Desire Petroleum plc, where he was a non-executive director, when he was already aware of an imminent deal with another company to develop Desire’s oil interests. Clifton was even provided with a Code of Conduct that explained his responsibilities under the insider dealing regime by AIM-listed Desire in August 2007, yet he directed Byron to purchase a total of 440,000 shares in the company between 19 November 2007 and 8 February 2008. The trades produced a paper profit of £86,030 when on 25 February 2008 Desire announced its acceptance of an offer from Arcadia Petroleum to farm in to three exploration prospects it had identified. FSA accepted that Clifton’s conduct was not deliberate but maintained he should have understood that he was in possession of inside information. He was fined £59,500 and Byron has disgorged the profit on the purchases.