Banker’s two lovers ‘made £2m from inside information’
A LOVE-CHEAT investment banker helped his two girlfriends make more than £2million by leaking insider information, a court heard yesterday.
Thomas Ammann, 39, handed over the confidential details about a future City takeover bid to Christina Weckwerth and Jessica Mang, it was claimed.
The two women allegedly used the sensitive insider information to ‘almost double their money’ by buying and selling shares in one company.
Ammann, who worked at the London offices of Japanese bank Mizuho, was one of only seven at the bank who knew that global electronics company Canon was planning a takeover of Dutch printing firm Oce.
The German banker allegedly shared this sensitive information with his two lovers – who had no knowledge of each other – months before the deal
‘No idea of each other’s existence’
became public. Weckwerth, 44, made nearly £2million while Mang, 29, pocketed £60,000 from their illicit trading, it was claimed.
Prosecutor Amanda Pinto QC told Southwark Crown Court yesterday that Ammann pleaded guilty to two counts of encouraging insider dealing and two counts of insider dealing earlier this year.
She said: ‘In broad terms these two women managed to almost double their money by trading in just one stock.
‘Each of these women considered that Thomas Ammann was their boyfriend and they had no idea of the existence of the other.’
The court heard that on March 12, 2009, Canon sent a confidential letter expressing its interest in a takeover of Oce to a select group who were working on the deal, including Ammann. The next day Weckwerth bought 14,500 shares in Oce, it was alleged.
Three days later, after a weekend with Ammann, she bought another 20,000 shares, the jury heard.
The prosecutor added: ‘Thomas Ammann and Christina Weckwerth sent several texts and had very long phone calls on the evening of March 12. The following day, after another call, she invested in those shares.’
And in April 2009 Weckwerth approached the Bank of Cyprus with a view to setting up her own company to handle her share trades, it was said. She hired a team of staff and made an initial £320,000 investment from her share dealing.
Mang is said to have illegally traded in Oce shares via a Halifax account.
Weckwerth, of Koenigstein im Taunus, Germany, denies one count of insider dealing between April and November 2009. Mang, of Westminster, also denies one count of insider dealing in November 2009.
The trial continues.