Insider Trading

Ex-UBS Executive Pleads Guilty to Insider Trading And Could Spent 90 Years in Prison

Published on: March 13, 2008 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Former UBS Executive Mitchel Guttenberg is looking at a possible 90 years in prison. Guttenberg recently pled guilty to two counts of conspiracy and four counts of securities fraud for his involvement in an insider trading scam.

Prosecutors had accused Guttenberg of selling nonpublic data from UBS stock analysts about potential downgrades and upgrades to trader to David Tavdy. Tavdy then allegedly used this private information to illegally make at least $15 million for hedge funds and $10 million by trading on his own account.

According to the U.S. Justice Department, Guttenberg repeatedly sold insider information to Tavdy over a nearly five-year period.

Ex-Goldman Sachs Associate Will Serve Nearly Five Years in Prison for Insider Trading

Published on: January 10, 2008 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Eugene M. Plotkin, a former Goldman Sachs associate, will serve 57 months in prison for his involvement in insider trading. Plotkin pleaded guilty to conspiracy and eight counts of insider trading for his role in a number of insider trading scams that generated over $6 million in illegal gains.

The former fixed-income research associate to will have to forfeit $6.7 million and pay a $10,000 fine. The forfeiture will come from money that the government has already frozen.

Plotkin, along with ex-Goldman analyst David Pajcin, was one of the key players accused of illegally trading stocks after consulting prepublished copies of BusinessWeek’s “Inside Wall Street” column. The scam also involved the use of information leaked by Jason Smith, a grand juror in the Bristol-Myers Squib Co. case and information provided by Stanislav Shpigelman, a former Merrill Lynch investment-banking analyst.

Ex-Goldman Sachs & Co. Employee Pleads Guilty To Operating Multi-Million Dollar Insider Trading Scheme

Published on: September 26, 2007 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Former Goldman Sachs & Co. Associate Eugene Plotnik has pled guilty to conspiracy to commit securities fraud, in addition to eight counts of insider trading. The charges carry a maximum of 165 years in prison.

Plotnik had been charged with running a “multi-faceted,” multi-million dollar scam that used inside information from at least three sources to conduct trading. The sources included a Merrill Lynch analyst, a federal grand juror, and two printing press employees that stole advance copies of a business publication with nonpublic information.

As part of his plea agreement, however, Plotnik promised that he would not appeal a lighter sentence ranging from 4 years and 9 months to 5 years and 11 months in prison. He also agreed to repay the money. More than $6.7 million acquired from the scheme is in illegal gains. Federal authorities have already frozen bank accounts to secure most of the funds.

Former Morgan Stanley Compliance Officer And Her Husband To Plead Guilty For Involvement In Insider Trading Scheme

Published on: May 8, 2007 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Randi Collotta, an Ex-Morgan Stanley compliance officer and attorney, and her husband, Christopher Collotta, are slated to plead guilty on May 10, 2007 for their involvement in one of the largest insider trading schemes to take place on Wall Street since the 1980’s.

Randi Collotta is accused by U.S. prosecutors of informing her husband and Marc Jurman, a Florida broker, of deals that were pending, including Adobe Systems Inc.’s $3.4 billion buy of Macromedia Inc. and the $2.1 billion acquisition of Argosy Gaming Co. by Penn National Gaming Inc.

The charges against the couple are part of U.S. prosecutors’ crackdown against Morgan Stanley employees that are accused of involvement in insider trading. 13 people have been charged in separate schemes that took place over a 5 year period and generated the participants over $15 million in illegal profits.

The SEC And The U.S. Attorney’s Office File Separate Criminal And Civil Actions In Major Insider Trading Schemes Involving Confidential Information From UBS Securities And Morgan Stanley

Published on: March 12, 2007 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced the unsealing of criminal actions against a dozen individuals for allegedly stealing and trading on inside information from Morgan Stanley and UBS Securities, LLC, two Wall Street brokerage firms. The SEC also filed charges against these individuals in a separate civil case.

Former Morgan Stanley attorney Randi Collotta and former UBS Securities LLC executive Mitchell Guttenberg are two of the individuals out of more than a dozen people being charged by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for two bribery schemes and two insider trading schemes. Participants made over $8 million in illegal trading profits. U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia says all of the criminal defendants are in custody. Four of them have pleaded guilty.

Garcia said that the defendants violated the trust that had been given to them, made money illegally, and took extensive measures to hide their alleged illegal actions. Concealment measures included secret meetings, paying cash kickbacks, and communicating in code using disposable cell phone.