Declan Service: County Antrim man fined £60k for insider trading

Declan Service was ordered to pay a fine of the euro equivalent of £60,000

A County Antrim man is the first person ever to be convicted of insider trading in the Republic of Ireland.

Declan Service, of Sunnyvale Avenue, Portrush, was fined £60,000 and told he faces a potential 18-month prison term when his sentence is finalised.

The 63-year-old carer pleaded guilty to engaging in insider dealing on dates between 18 and 22 May 2020.

He used sensitive market information to sell shares in a pharmaceutical company before it was made public.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court was told he used inside knowledge to offload his shares in the company days before buying them again at a discounted rate.

Service, who is suffering from bowel cancer, prostate cancer and long-term depressive illnesses, made a profit of about £11,500.

The court was told that would have risen to £44,000 if he had retained his shares for a year.

Full admissions

The alarm was raised when a stockbroking firm, who Service was a client of, alerted the Irish Central Bank to suspicious transactions he had made.

A detective garda (Irish police) told the court Service made full admissions and accepted everything that was put to him.

The court heard he told police: "I truthfully didn't realise I had done anything wrong. I acted innocently in my mind. It's not in my DNA to do something I know to be illegal."

Service moved to Northern Ireland in 2021, having previously worked for healthcare companies in the US and Ireland.

His sentence is to be finalised on 19 February.