Rifat, the third person to plead guilty in the largest and most complex insider dealing investigation by the FCA, was accused of passing confidential and price-sensitive information to an accomplice to his advantage.

The FCA said Rifat passed on inside information about eight companies in 2009, including UK banking group Barclays (>> Barclays PLC), German carmaker Volkswagen (>> Volkswagen AG), Spanish power group Iberdrola (>> Iberdrola SA) and German retailer Metro (>> METRO AG).

The dealings were related to companies including UK banking group Barclays (>> Barclays PLC), German carmaker Volkswagen (>> Volkswagen AG), Spanish power group Iberdrola (>> Iberdrola SA) and German retailer Metro (>> METRO AG), the FCA confirmed to Reuters.

The dealings led to profits of more than 250,000 pounds ($395,500), the FCA statement said. It was not clear if Rifat was the only beneficiary.

Rifat will be sentenced next year.

Earlier this year Graeme Shelley, a former broker at Novum Securities, pleaded guilty to insider dealing with Rifat and with another associate Paul Milsom, a former execution trader at Legal and General (>> Legal & General Group Plc).

Milsom last year became the first man to be jailed after pleading guilty in the case. ($1 = 0.6321 British Pounds)

By Nishant Kumar