A former Wall Street investment banker has been convicted in a U.S. court for tipping his father to pending merger transactions.
Following a seven-day trial, Sean Stewart, 38, was convicted of securities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud and tender offer fraud for tipping his father about five corporate acquisitions before they were publicly announced, generating US$1.1 million in illicit trading profits.
Stewart will be sentenced on Jan. 29, 2020.
In 2015, his father, Robert Stewart, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and tender offer fraud. He was sentenced to four years’ probation and ordered to forfeit $150,000. Another tippee also pleaded guilty back in 2015, and was sentenced to a year of probation and $900,000 in forfeiture.
“From 2011 through 2014, Sean Stewart used his position of trust at two different investment banks to steal confidential information and pass it on to his father so he could make illicit profits in the stock market. As a unanimous jury found today, he abused his positions over and over again to tip his father,” said Geoffrey Berman, Manhattan U.S. attorney.