City trader jailed after sugar deal turns sour

A City trader who lost almost £5 million in a sugar deal that turned sour has been jailed for five years at the Old Bailey.

Shaun Oates admitted to setting himself up as director of a bogus trading company while still working at a City firm. Over 17 months, the 31-year-old, from Croydon, made a series of fraudulent trades – losing millions of his employer’s money through investments on the futures, options and foreign exchange markets.

Oates’ ailing criminal enterprise was discovered by the City firm after he was unable to cover up his failed sugar trade. Shortly afterwards the City of London Police was alerted and detectives subsequently arrested Oates.

His criminal actions later resulted in the firm cutting salaries and laying off two employees.

Det Sgt Rob Stirling, of City of London Police’s Economic Crime Directorate, said: "Shaun Oates was a man with a strong knowledge of the stock market and a wealth of understanding of how his company worked.

“To many he would have seemed the perfect employee, and it is little wonder that his bosses chose to place their trust in him. But when he betrayed that trust he gambled both his own future and that of his colleagues.

“His crime has affected an entire business, and it is for that reason that he was handed a lengthy sentence behind bars."

Oates pleaded guilty to fraud by abuse of position and fraud by false representation and was sentenced to five years imprisonment for each count (to run concurrently) on 2 December 2011.