These unauthorised trades caused the price of Brent Crude oil to rise by over $1.50 a barrel (equivalent to $2.13 in 2023) within a short period of time, a trend generally associated with major geopolitical events, before dropping rapidly.
As Head of Compliance Gilligan was responsible for implementing and rigorously monitoring effective control systems to ensure trades were correctly matched, allocated and verified in a timely manner.
His failure to set in place appropriate internal controls resulted in the whole series of trades remaining unquestioned and unverified for many hours.
After an investigation by the FSA, which deemed Perkins "not fit and proper", he was barred from working as a trader in June 2010 for a minimum of five years and fined a total of £72,000 – paid in 36 installments – which was reduced from £150,000 after Perkins expressed concern that the large fine would cause him undue financial hardship.
[1] When delivering the report, a regulator for the FSA said that "Mr. Perkins poses an extreme risk to the market when drunk".
[1] In July 2010, two days after the FSA announced the sanctions, Perkins was hired by Starsupply Renewables SA, a Swiss-based biofuels brokerage company, initially to create training manuals for new recruits; Starsupply promised not to allow Perkins to trade for the remainder of his probation.