Insider Trading

June 13, 2014

The SEC charged four Northern California residents with insider trading in Ross Stores stock options based on nonpublic information about monthly sales results leaked by one of the retailer’s employees.  The agency alleged that Saleem Khan was routinely tipped by his friend Roshanlal Chaganlal, who was a director in the Ross Stores finance department and used confidential information to illegally trade on more than 40 occasions ahead of the company’s public release of financial results.  Khan also tipped his work colleagues Ranjan Mendonsa and Ammar Akbari so they too could trade in Ross stock options based on the nonpublic information.  The insider trading resulted in collective profits of more than $12M.  SEC

May 22, 2014

The SEC charged a former director of the Long Island-based vitamin company, NBTY Inc., and others in his family circle with insider trading ahead of the company’s sale to private equity firm The Carlyle Group.  The SEC alleges that board member Glenn Cohen learned that NBTY was negotiating a sale to The Carlyle Group and tipped his three brothers and a brother’s girlfriend with the confidential information.  Craig Cohen, Marc Cohen, Steven Cohen, and Laurie Topal all traded on the inside information that Glenn Cohen provided and reaped illicit profits totaling $175,000.  The four Cohens and Topal agreed to settle the SEC’s charges by paying a total of more than $500,000.  SEC

May 12, 2014

The SEC filed insider trading charges against three founders of the software company, Lawson Software, for taking unfair advantage of incorrect media speculation and analyst reports about the company’s planned merger with Infor Global Solutions.  They agreed to pay nearly $5.8 million to settle the SEC’s charges.  SEC

April 25, 2014

The SEC charged Christopher Saridakis, former CEO of the marketing solutions division of GSI Commerce, with insider trading in advance of eBay’s acquisition of the e-commerce company by tipping off friends and relatives with confidential information about the pending deal so they could attain more than $300,000 in illegal profits.  SEC

April 17, 2014

The SEC charged Keith Seilhan, a former 20-year employee of BP and a senior responder during the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, with insider trading in BP securities based on confidential information about the magnitude of the disaster.  According to the SEC’s complaint, BP tasked Seilhan with coordinating BP’s oil collection and clean-up operations in the Gulf of Mexico and while in possession of material, nonpublic information, and in breach of duties owed to BP and its shareholders, he directed the sale of his family’s entire $1 million portfolio of BP securities over the course of two days in late April 2010.  SEC

March 19, 2014

The SEC charged Vladimir Eydelman, a stock broker, and Steven Metro, a managing clerk at the New York law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, with insider trading around more than a dozen mergers or other corporate transactions for illicit profits of $5.6M during a four-year period.  Metro allegedly obtained inside information from the firm’s corporate clients involved in pending deals by accessing confidential documents in the law firm’s computer system.  SEC

March 13, 2014

The SEC charged Ronald Dennis, a former analyst at an affiliate of hedge fund advisory firm S.A.C. Capital Advisors, with insider trading.  Dennis allegedly received from two fellow hedge fund analysts confidential details about impending announcements at Dell Inc. and Foundry Networks which he used to make illegal trades in Dell and Foundry stock, enabling hedge funds managed by S.A.C. Capital and affiliate CR Intrinsic Investors generate illegal profits and avoid significant losses.  SEC 

June 26, 2015

Jim Wang, the former Executive Vice President and President of Global Business Operations for Qualcomm Inc. was sentenced today to 18 months in prison and fined $500,000 for his role in a three-year insider trading scheme.  DOJ

July 21, 2014

Jing Wang, the former Executive Vice President and President of Global Business Operations for Qualcomm Inc., pleaded guilty to insider trading in shares of Qualcomm and Atheros Communications. He also pleaded guilty to laundering the proceeds of his insider trading using an offshore shell company. DOJ