Insider Trading

Two Stockbrokers, Biotech Employee Face Insider Trading Charges Related to Pharmaceutical Trials and A Merger

Published on: June 11, 2015 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is charging three men with insider trading in the stock and options of Ardea Biosciences Inc. Those charged included the company’s senior director of information technology Michael J. Fefferman, his brother in-law Chad E. Wiegand, and Akis C. Eracleous. Wiegand and Eracleous are stockbrokers.

According to the regulator, Fefferman had knowledge of material nonpublic data and tipped Wiegand prior to public announcements about two pharmaceutical trials, the acquisition of Ardea Biosciences by AstraZeneca PLC, and a licensing agreement for a cancer drug.

The Commission said that the insider trading happened from 4/09 to 4/12. SEC Philadelphia Regional Office Director Sharon B. Binger said that Fefferman breached his duty to his company’s shareholders when he shared confidential information about the important corporate events before the news was made public. She accused Eracleous and Wiegand of taking unfair advantage of the investing public by using this information to trade before others had access to the same knowledge.

Wiegand purportedly used the tip to buy stock in Ardea using different customer accounts. He then allegedly tipped Eracleous so he could do the same. The alleged insider trading generated about $530K in profits.
Continue Reading ›

SEC’s Use of In-House Judge in Insider Trading Case is Likely Unconstitutional, Rules Federal Judge

Published on: June 9, 2015 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

A federal judge has ruled that the decision by the Securities and Exchange Commission to have an in-house judge in an insider trading case was “likely unconstitutional.” In the wake of his decision, U.S. District Judge Leigh Martin May agreed to put a temporary stop to the regulator’s administrative case against Charles Hill unless the case is presided over by a judge who fulfills the requirement for constitutional appointment. The hearing in the insider trading case against Hill was scheduled to begin next week.

Hill, a self-employed Atlanta real estate developer, disputes the regulator’s allegations that he made illicit gains of $744K from trading on a tip a friend purportedly provided about the takeover of Radiant Systems Incorporated. The company was about to be acquired by NCR Corp. for $1.2 billion in 2011.

Hill filed his own lawsuit against the SEC, challenging its decision to have in-house administrative law judge James Grimes preside over his case. Grimes was retained through the SEC’s office of in-house judges instead of having the appointment approved by the regulator’s commissioners. Now Judge May is saying, per Hill’s argument, that the Commission may have broken constitutional protections.

SEC Files Insider Trading Charges Involving Secondary Stock Offerings

Published on: June 3, 2015 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The Securities and Exchange Commission is filing insider trading charges against four persons accused of stealing confidential data from investment banks and public company clients so they could trade prior to secondary stock offerings. The four of them allegedly made over $4.4 million in illegal trading profits. Some 15 stocks were reportedly involved. The insider trading scam purportedly went on for three years, from 6/10 to 7/13.

According to the regulator, Steven Fishoff, a former day trader, conspired with his brother-in-law Steven Costantin and friends Ronald Chernin and Paul Petrello. The four of them pretended to be portfolio managers and they allegedly persuaded investment bankers to share confidential information about secondary offerings that were going to take place. Essentially, after agreeing not to tell anyone about the offering or trade in the securities, the defendants were made privy to private data.

The defendants allegedly broke their promises not to tell others about the information, tipping one another with their insider knowledge so they could lower the issuer’s stock price. They would short the stock before the offering was made public. This allowed them to earn short sale profits after the stock price had plunged.

SEC Cases: Brothers-In-Law Charged in Louisiana Insider Trading Scam, NY-Based Broker-Dealer Accused of CDO Liquidation-Related Fraud, & Colorado Ponzi Scam is Halted

Published on: February 20, 2015 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The Securities and Exchange Commission is charging former VP of The Shaw Group’s construction operations Scott Zeringue and his brother-in-law Jesse Roberts III with insider trading. Zeringue has already agreed to settle the regulator’s charges by consenting to pay disgorgement of ill-gotten gains plus a penalty.

The SEC says that the insider trading took place in 2012 when Zeringue, while working at The Shaw Group, became privy to confidential data about the company’s upcoming acquisition by Chicago Bridge & Iron Company. Prior to the announcement of the deal, he bought 125 shares of Shaw stock and asked Roberts to buy for him, too. Roberts went on to tip others and they collectively made close to $1 million in illicit profits.

Meantime, parallel criminal charges have been filed against Roberts. Zeringue has already pleaded guilty to the criminal charges against him.

California Insider Trading Ring Made Almost $750K in Illegal Profits, Says the SEC

Published on: February 5, 2015 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The Securities and Exchange Commission says that former Barclays Capital (ADR) analyst John Gray, his friends Christian Keller and Kyle Martin, and Aaron Shephard committed California insider trading, making close to $750K in illegal profits. They did this by allegedly trading right before four corporate news announcements were made. To settle the securities fraud case, the four men will pay $1.6 million in total.

According to the SEC, Gray, who was an analyst for Barclays at the time, and Kelly traded on confidential merger data that the latter obtained during his job as a trader for two Silicon Valley-based public companies. They purportedly tried to hide the trades by putting them in a brokerage account held under Martin’s name. Gray also tipped Shephard, so that he too could make trades before the announcements.

The first acts of inside trading purportedly occurred when Gray and Keller traded on confidential merger data that Keller found out about while working as an Applied Materials Inc. financial analyst. The traded prior to that company’s acquisition of Semitool Inc. as well as before the one for Varian Semiconductor. When Keller left Applied Materials, their insider trading scam continued while he worked for Rovi Corporation, where he learned to profitably trade in the company’s securities before negative news about Rovi would be announced.

Insider Trading News: SEC Sues Ex-Capital One Data Analysts, U.S. Attorney Bharara Wants Rehearing in Case Involving Overturned Convictions, and Judge Vacates Four Men’s Guilty Pleas

Published on: January 23, 2015 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Ex-Capital Data One Analysts Are Defendants in SEC Insider Trading Lawsuit

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is suing Nan Huang and Bonan Huang, two former Capital One data analysts, for insider trading. The regulator contends that the two of them used nonpublic data to trade in consumer retail companies’ shares before earnings and sales reports were issued. They allegedly used sales information that the credit card company had collected from millions of customers.

According to the SEC lawsuit, from 11/13 to 1/15 the two analysts made hundreds, perhaps thousands of keyword searches for sales information on at least 170 companies that are publicly traded. They had access to this data because part of their job was to serve as fraud investigators.

SEC Headlines: Regulator Probes Oppenheimer Executive, Prepares Insider Trading Case Against Policy Research Firm, & Wants to Suspend Standard & Poor’s From Rating CMBSs

Published on: December 10, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

SEC Investigating Ex-Oppenheimer Executive for Securities Law Violations

According to Bloomberg.com, Robert Okin, Oppenheimer & Co.’s (OPY) former retail brokerage head, is under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission. In October, the agency’s enforcement division notified Okin that, based on a preliminary determination, it intended to file charges against him for securities law violations, including failure to supervise.

Okin is no longer with Oppenheimer. He resigned earlier this month to pursue “other interests.” Okin denies violating the Securities Exchange Act.

Ex-Ameriprise Manager Who Helped with SAC Capital Insider Trading Case Settles Charges Against Her

Published on: December 9, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Former Ameriprise Financial (AMP) Manager Reema D. Shah, who pleaded guilty to securities fraud earlier this year, will pay $390,103 to settle both the criminal and Securities and Exchange Commission cases against her. Shah, who was a tech stock picker for Ameriprise subsidiary RiverSource Investments, LLC, illegally recommended Yahoo Inc. stock in 2009 after she became privy to nonpublic data about a search engine partnership between the technology company and Microsoft Corp.

According to government officials, Shah traded information between ’04 and ’09 with research analysts, hedge fund managers, and consultants, including Robert W. Kwok, who was the source of the data about Yahoo and Microsoft. Shah previously gave information to Kwok about the company Autodesk and its acquisition of Moldflow Corporation. Kwok went on to buy 1,500 Moldflow shares, allegedly because of the tip, and made a $4,750 profit.

The regulator claims that because of the insider trading information that Kwok gave her, Shah compelled certain funds that she helped manage to buy about $700,000 Yahoo shares. These were later sold at a $388,807 profit.

Insider Trading Roundup: Ex-Broker Pleads Guilty to Securities Fraud Involving IBM Acquisition, BNP Officials Are Under Scrutiny, and Ex-Billionaire Is Tried In Historic Brazilian Case

Published on: November 19, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Former Stockbroker Pleads Guilty to Insider Trading in IBM Case

Daryl Payton, an ex-trader at Euro Pacific Capital Inc., has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit securities fraud. Payton was involved in an insider trading scam that revolved around software manufacturer SPSS Inc., which IBM acquired in 2009. A U.S. judge accepted his plea.

Three other people have admitted that they shared and traded on secret information about the deal when it was in the works. The confidential data came from Michael Dallas, a corporate lawyer who has not been charged but was identified in a related S.E.C. securities fraud lawsuit.

SEC Wants $602M Fund Set Up for Victims of SAC Capital’s Insider Trading

Published on: November 17, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is asking a district judge to authorize a fair fund to pay back people shareholders who didn’t participate in an insider trading scam involving shares of Wyeth LLC and Elan Corp. PLC. The regulator is seeking to reimburse people who traded the stocks over a seven-day period in July 2008, which is the week when SAC Capital Advisors LP liquidated a $700 million position in both companies because of illicit tips obtained by former fund manager Mathew Martoma. The SEC is suggesting that the $602 million it collected from SAC Capital over the matter should be used to repay the shareholders.

SAC Capital, now known as Asset Management LP, had agreed to pay $1.8 billion to settle a criminal indictment for the insider trading allegations. Of that money, $616 million was a penalty to the SEC over related charges. However, not all SEC commissioners are on board with the regulator’s fair fund recommendation. Commissioners Michael Piwowar and Daniel Gallagher have expressed their dissent.

Meantime, Martoma has just lost a bid to stay out of jail while he appeals his conviction. Martoma was sentenced to nine years behind bars after he was found guilty of three counts of conspiracy and securities fraud.