Gary Yin, an ex-Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAC) broker, must pay $1.4M in restitution for helping a client launder money made from insider trading. Yin admitted to helping former Qualcomm Inc. president Jing Wang conceal hundreds of thousands of dollars made in insider trading in that company and another company.
Yin set up brokerage accounts in the British Virgin Islands using a shell company to hide the scam and helped Wang transfer $525,000 to the shell account. He also transported documents to Wang’s brother in China to allegedly help hide the scheme from the FBI.
Now Yin must forfeit $27,000 in profits he made from trades in Qualcomm stock that were set up in a Merrill broker account in his mother-in-law’s name in the British Virgin Islands. He must also pay a $5,000 fine
Wang, who pleaded guilty to insider trading charges, has been ordered to serve 18 months behind bars. The SEC said that he made $244,000 in insider trading.
It was in 2013 that the SEC charged Wang and Yin with insider trading. The regulator said that they became friends several years ago when they belonged to the same church.
The regulator contends that in 2006, Wang went to Yin about hiding the monetary transactions. The SEC said that the two of them traded on material, nonpublic information that Wang became aware of as an executive of Qualcomm.
Merrill Lynch pursued restitution for legal expenses related to Yin’s case and the firm’s own probe. Judge William W. Hayes noted in his sentencing document that no evidence exists to indicate that the broker-dealer played a part in the offense or helped to facilitate the scam in any way. Hayes called Merrill Lynch a victim in the insider trading scheme.
The SSEK Partners Group is a securities fraud law firm.
Ex-Merrill broker ordered to pay $1.4 million in insider trading case, InvestmentNews, August 26, 2015
Former Merrill Lynch Stock Broker Pleads Guilty in Connection with Qualcomm Insider Trading Scheme, FBI, September 24, 2013