Bankim Thanki QC and Michael Green QC appeared for the FSA.  As reported in The Times on 9 March 2010 Winterflood Securities, the City market-maker owned by Close Brothers, appealed to the Court of Appeal attempting to overturn the FSA’s ruling that the firm and two of its brokers committed market abuse.  The case involves dealings in shares of Fundamental e Investments, an AIM-listed computer components company, for which Winterflood was the primary market-maker. A scheme to inflate the price of the shares, which involved trading large volumes of the shares through Winterflood, led the FSA to rule that the firm and its brokers had played a “pivotal role in an illegal share-ramping scheme”.  The FSA fined Winterflood £4 million and its two brokers a total of £250,000.  The Court of Appeal (Lloyd, Moore-Bick and Richards LJJ) has reserved its judgment.