U.S. authorities have brought charges against seven hedge fund managers and analysts with alleged insider trading.
The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York and the Federal Bureau of Investigation Wednesday announced charges against seven investment professionals, who worked at three different hedge funds and two other investment firms, for engaging in a scheme in which they provided each other with material, non-public information about two publicly traded technology companies, Dell, Inc. and Nvidia.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission also brought charges against two of the hedge fund advisory firms, as well as the seven individuals, for their roles in the alleged scheme. It alleges that a network of closely associated hedge fund traders at Diamondback Capital Management LLC and Level Global Investors LP illegally obtained the material nonpublic information about Dell and Nvidia.
According to the SEC’s complaint filed in federal court in Manhattan, the illicit gains in the Dell insider trades exceeded US$62.3 million, and the illicit gains in the Nvidia insider trades exceeded US$15.7 million.
Four of the accused were arrested today, and the government unsealed guilty pleas from three others, who are cooperating with the government’s investigation. The four are each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and one count of securities fraud. They are presumed innocent until proven guilty. The conspiracy charge carries a maximum potential penalty of five years in prison and a fine of US$250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense. The securities fraud charge carries a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of US$5 million.
The three men that are cooperating have pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and one count of securities fraud. They each face a statutory maximum sentence of 25 years in prison.
“The charges unsealed today allege a corrupt circle of friends who formed a criminal club whose purpose was profit and whose members regularly bartered lucrative inside information so their respective funds could illegally profit. And profit they allegedly did—to the tune of more than US$61 million on illegal trades of a single stock—much of it coming in a US$53 million short trade,” said Manhattan U.S. Attorney, Preet Bharara.
“We have demonstrated through our prosecutions that insider trading is rampant and has its own social network, a network we intend to dismantle. We will be unrelenting in our pursuit of those who think they are above the law,” he added.