A California man that was convicted of insider trading for acting on tips about pending corporate mergers over a decade ago has only now been sentenced to two years in prison.
Back in 2015, U.S. authorities charged three men for alleged insider trading involving information about forthcoming acquisitions in the tech sector — based on tips that allegedly originated with an investment analyst at J.P. Morgan Securities LLC.
Both the analyst, Ashish Aggarwal, and a pair of men that allegedly traded on the tips — Shahriyar Bolandian and Kevan Sadigh — were charged in parallel actions by the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
At the time, the regulator alleged that they made over US$672,000 in illicit profits from their insider trading, which was uncovered through its analysis of trading data.
In 2017, following a trial, a federal jury acquitted the analyst, Aggarwal, of 26 of the 30 counts filed against him, and a mistrial was declared on the other four counts.
However, the traders in the alleged scheme were both later convicted in separate trials.
In April 2024, a federal jury convicted Bolandian on six counts of insider trading.
Today, a U.S. district court judge sentenced Bolandian to 24 months in federal prison, and the DoJ said that a forfeiture order will be imposed at a later date.
Sadigh was also sentenced to two years of probation, ordered to forfeit US$36,684 and to pay a $206,525 judgment, after he was convicted in a separate jury trial in July 2024.
The SEC’s litigation, which seeks disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, penalties and permanent injunctions, remains ongoing, the DoJ reported.