Which Guinness chairman was convicted in the 1990 Guinness share-trading scandal?

Ernest Saunders was the Guinness chairman convicted in the 1990 Guinness share-trading scandal.

The case arose from Guinness’s 1986 takeover battle for Distillers, a major British drinks company. Guinness secretly financed purchases of its own shares and arranged support from wealthy investors to help raise its share price and improve the appearance of its takeover bid.

Saunders was convicted in 1990 alongside investor Anthony Parnes, businessman Gerald Ronson, and stockbroker Jack Lyons. Saunders received a five-year prison sentence, later reduced on appeal. His conviction became controversial after he was released on medical grounds following a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease; he later recovered enough to return to business activity.

The scandal is sometimes confused with the unrelated Lonrho controversies associated with Tiny Rowland. Its central issue was market manipulation and undisclosed financial support during a corporate takeover, not the ordinary failure of Guinness’s brewing business.