The London City watchdog swooped on six men in its largest ever insider dealing operation

In the first operation carried out jointly between the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), 16 addresses have been searched this morning in London, the South East and Oxfordshire in the FSA’s largest ever operation against insider dealing.

Documents and computers have been seized from residential and business premises.

Six men including two senior city professionals at leading city institutions and one city professional at a hedge fund have been arrested on suspicion of being involved in a sophisticated and long-running insider dealing ring.

It is believed that the city professionals passed inside information to traders (either directly or via middlemen) who traded based on this information and have made significant profits as a result.

The operation was carried out by 143 FSA personnel together with officers from SOCA as part of a joint investigation that commenced in late 2007.

No further details can be confirmed at this time.