Credit…Andres Kudacki/Associated Press
A former Indiana congressman, an FBI trainee, a Wall Street banker and several others became an unlikely grouping when federal authorities announced Monday the filing of criminal and civil charges for insider trading against nine people in a set of unrelated cases.
The series of cases, filed by the U.S. attorney in Manhattan and the Securities and Exchange Commission, indicate that a decade after federal authorities cracked down on insider trading in the fund industry coverage, trading confidential information about impending corporate deals remains attractive to some. In total, authorities said, the schemes netted more than $7 million in illegal business profits.
“As today’s actions show, we stand ready to draw on all our experience and tools to stamp out misconduct and hold bad actors accountable, regardless of industry or profession,” said Gurbir S. Grewal, director of SEC application.
When filing criminal and civil charges for securities fraud Stephen Buyera former congressman from Indiana, authorities said Mr. Buyer had misused confidential information about a telecommunications merger that he had obtained while working as a corporate consultant.
Mr. Buyer, a Republican who left Congress in 2011, traded a tip he received in 2018 during a golf outing with a T-Mobile executive who was one of his clients, according to charging documents. The executive had mentioned that the company would soon announce a deal to merge with Sprint, and before the deal, the authorities said, Mr. Buyer and two others acquired Sprint stock and made a profit of more of $107,000.
According to a tip involving another telecom deal in 2019, Mr. Buyer made more than $227,000 in profits, authorities said, by trading on information he had received from one of his clients about a deal to buy another company.
Andrew Goldstein, attorney for Mr. Buyer, said his client was innocent and that “his stock trades were lawful.”
The authorities also filed complaints Brijesh Goel, an investment banker, accused him of trading on confidential information he received in 2017 while working for his firm. Mr. Goel, authorities say, conducted illegal business with a friend before corporate takeover announcements that generated more than $275,000 in profits.
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan and the SEC did not identify the investment bank where Mr. Goel. But a LinkedIn profile of Mr. Goel said he worked for Goldman Sachs from 2013 to June 2021. Mr. Goel currently works for Apollo Global Management, the private equity firm. An Apollo spokesman said that “upon learning of the allegations for the first time this morning”, the company placed Mr Goel on “indefinite leave”. A spokeswoman for Goldman did not respond to a request for comment.
Reed Brodsky, attorney for Mr. Goel, said the government “rushed to charge” his client. The lawyer said the authorities were “unfairly sticking” the name of Mr. Goel.
The authorities also charged Seth Markin, a former FBI trainee, made $82,000 in illegal business profits by misappropriating confidential information about a pending settlement with the pharmaceutical company Merck. Federal prosecutors and regulators said Mr. Markin had traded with information he obtained after secretly reviewing a confidential deal folder belonging to his girlfriend.
Mr. Markin, according to charging documents, shared the tip with a friend who also traded on the information.
A lawyer for Mr. Markin was not immediately available for comment.
Damian Williams, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said: “The message from today’s arrests is simple: My office remains as committed as ever to eliminating insider trading in all its forms”.
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