SEC Charges Compliance Analyst With Insider Trading

The SEC charged a former senior compliance analyst at an investment bank with trading on material, nonpublic information using his parent's brokerage accounts. The SEC also charged the analyst's parents as relief defendants.

In a Complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, the SEC stated that the analyst, by virtue of his role at the investment bank, had access to material, nonpublic information concerning potential mergers, tender offers and financings. The SEC alleged that the analyst misappropriated this information by trading on it ahead of corporate events using four U.S.-based brokerage accounts held in his parents' names. The SEC claimed that, in an effort to conceal his activity, the analyst alternated brokerage accounts, refrained from placing large trades and made only modest profits. The SEC found that, in total, the analyst generated a profit of $471,700.