(Bloomberg) -- A former UBS Group AG compliance officer and her friend were sentenced to three years for insider trading after a London trial that featured accounts of champagne-fueled parties, burner phones and evidence stashed in a Chanel handbag.

Ex-UBS employee Fabiana Abdel-Malek, 36, and day trader Walid Choucair, 40, were sentenced Thursday in London, with a judge saying that they must serve at least half the term in prison.

The ruling caps an eight-week trial filled with details of lavish nights out in one of the city’s most exclusive nightclubs, and a network of traders who only spoke on burner phones. Abdel-Malek was accused by the Financial Conduct Authority of passing tips from confidential UBS databases to Choucair, who would use the data within minutes.

Judge Joanna Korner called Abdel-Malek a “gamekeeper” who used bank materials to become an “accomplished poacher.”

“It’s clear to me that you enjoyed and made full use of entry into the rather louche lifestyle that was being led by Choucair,” Korner said Thursday. “There is no question that both of your actions were deliberate, dishonest and committed over a period of a year. ”

Breach of Trust

The FCA had a lot riding on the case, its first prosecution in 2 1/2 years. The agency compiled a detailed timeline of the communication and movements of Abdel-Malek and Choucair, but didn’t present evidence that Abdel-Malek profited from the relationship.“You Walid Choucair did corrupt Fabiana Abdel-Malek into committing these offenses and you were the one who in the end received the money,” Korner said. “But you Fabiana Abdel-Malek committed a gross breach of trust which I have already said will affect the reputation of UBS and without that breach taking place, these offenses could never have happened. ”

The defense accepted most parts of the prosecution’s case: that Abdel-Malek looked the deals up, that she texted him from her desk and that he traded the same stocks she was looking up. But Abdel-Malek and Choucair fiercely disputed what they discussed as well as denying that they met at times when the prosecution alleged Abdel-Malek told him about deals.

After some of the verdicts were announced in court Tuesday, Abdel-Malek broke down in tears. Choucair, standing next to her in a hoodie and faded jeans, maintained the gloomy look he had worn for most of the trial.

(Updates with judge’s comments starting in fourth paragraph.)

To contact the reporter on this story: Franz Wild in London at fwild@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anthony Aarons at aaarons@bloomberg.net, Christopher Elser

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