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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
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| Former restaurant boss convicted | Former restaurant boss convicted |
| (11 minutes later) | |
| A former boss of upmarket restaurant chain Belgo has pleaded guilty to insider trading, it can be revealed. | |
| Tim Power, 43, from south-west London, admitted leaking price-sensitive information about the sale of the business in 1997. | Tim Power, 43, from south-west London, admitted leaking price-sensitive information about the sale of the business in 1997. |
| Reporting restrictions on the case at Southwark Crown Court have been lifted. | Reporting restrictions on the case at Southwark Crown Court have been lifted. |
| Power's co-defendant, businessman Euan Carlisle, 48, was cleared of eight counts of insider trading involving the sale of Belgo shares. | Power's co-defendant, businessman Euan Carlisle, 48, was cleared of eight counts of insider trading involving the sale of Belgo shares. |
| Power was operations manager of Belgo - a Belgian "mussels and frites" chain - when he flouted strict City rules. | |
| At the time he was also married to Chantal Brenninkmeyer, an heiress to the Dutch dynasty behind the C&A shop chain. | |
| The court was told that it was Ms Brenninkmeyer's lover, a man named Tim Lowe, who "blew the whistle" on Power's activities. | |
| Takeovers | |
| Prosecutors said that both insider breaches involved confidential information that only "those on the inside" could have known. | |
| Sarah Whitehouse, prosecuting, said Power first broke the law when he revealed that cash shell Lonsdale Holdings was to become Belgo's new owner. | |
| When the takeover became public knowledge, Lonsdale's shares quickly rose in value. | |
| A few months later, Belgo decided to take over three other upmarket London restaurants - Daphne, The Collection and Pasha. | |
| Again, prosecutors said, Power disclosed what was going on, this time causing Belgo's share value to climb. | |
| The case follows a long investigation begun by the former Department of Trade and Industry, now the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform. |