March 14, 2017

Silicon Valley-based auditor Nima Hedayati will pay more than $87,000 to settle charges that he traded on inside information about a client on the verge of a merger.  The SEC’s order found that through his work at an independent audit firm, Hedayati learned that Lam Research Corporation was making preparations to acquire KLA-Tencor Corporation, both companies involved in the manufacture of equipment used to create semiconductors.  According to the SEC’s order, Hedayati purchased out-of-the-money call options in KLA common stock in his and his fiancee’s brokerage accounts and encouraged his mother to purchase KLA common stock.  After merger plans were publicly announced, KLA’s stock price increased nearly 20 percent, and Hedayati and his mother collectively profited by more than $43,000 from the illegal trades. SEC

Tagged in: Insider Trading, Securities Fraud,