Investment Banker Gets 10 Years for Insider Trading

A U.S. District Court Judge sentenced one-time Credit Suisse investment banker Hafiz Muhammad Zubair Naseem to ten years in prison for insider trading, stating that some Wall Street professionals were not getting the picture of the seriousness of the crime. While working at Credit Suisse's Global Energy Group in Manhattan, Naseem fed insider information to a partner in Pakistan, who used the tips to illegally amass almost $8 million in profits.

Naseem, who was only 34 years old when committing the crime and lives in Westchester, was also ordered by the judge to pay back $7.5 million, although it seems the majority of the scam's profits were retained by the Pakistani partner, who is still wanted for arrest. Judge Robert P. Patterson seemed unsympathetic to Naseem's defense team's calls for leniency because his mother was ill and he has a daughter with cerebral palsy. "It's been prosecuted before and doesn't seem to deter people very much," so he threw the book at Naseem.

The Wall Street Journal has an interesting item on past sentences for people convicted of financial fraud.

Photo of Naseem from Gulf Times