SEC Charges Nevada Man Who Traded on Confidential Information Taken From Lifelong Friend (HedgeCo.net)
(HedgeCo.Net) The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced settled insider trading charges against a Nevada man who obtained confidential information about a pending corporate merger from a lifelong friend and used it to generate more than $250,000 in illicit trading profits. According to the SEC’s complaint, while Brian Fettner was a guest in the home of a longtime friend who was also the general counsel of Cintas Corporation, Fettner surreptiously viewed documents contemplating an acquisition of G&K Services Inc. by Cintas. Based on that information and without telling his friend, Fettner then purchased G&K Services stock in the brokerage accounts of his ex-wife and a former girlfriend, and persuaded his father and another girlfriend to purchase G&K shares.
SEC, Insider Trader/Tipper Whose Profits Went to Others Settle (JDSupra.com)
Earlier this spring the Commission resolved insider trading cases where one spouse misappropriated inside information from another and an in-house corporate counsel breached an obligation to his firm by using material non-public corporate information to trade. In both cases the person trading secured ill-gotten gains from the wrongful act – at least for a time. In contrast, in the Commission’s most recent insider trading case the person who breached a duty of confidence by using inside information or by passing it along did not directly profit from it – others did. SEC v. Fettner, Civil Action No. 9:19-cv-80613 (S.D. Fla. Filed May 7, 2019).
SEC Chairman Draws Line on Insider Trading `Fairness’ (Bloomberg)
Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton tells David Rubenstein that trading based on inside information may be legal if it’s been obtained in a “non-nefarious way.” His comments come on the latest episode of “The David Rubenstein Show: Peer-to-Peer Conversations” in an interview recorded April 9 in Washington. (Source: Bloomberg)
Wednesday 5/8 Insider Buying Report: CYH, SSNC (Nasdaq.com)
At Community Health Systems (CYH), a filing with the SEC revealed that on Tuesday, CEO Wayne T. Smith bought 993,449 shares of CYH, at a cost of $3.37 each, for a total investment of $3.35M. Community Health Systems is trading up about 10.8% on the day Wednesday. This buy marks the first one filed by Smith in the past twelve months. And on Friday, Director Michael Jay Zamkow purchased $1.02M worth of SS&C Technologies Holdings (SSNC), purchasing 17,000 shares at a cost of $59.76 each. Before this latest buy, Zamkow made one other purchase in the past year, buying $1.05M shares for a cost of $47.53 each. SS&C Technologies Holdings is trading up about 0.9% on the day Wednesday.
The SVP, CTO of Ebay (NASDAQ: EBAY) is Selling Shares (AnalystRatings)
Today, the SVP, CTO of Ebay (EBAY), Stephen Fisher, sold shares of EBAY for $787K. In addition to Stephen Fisher, 4 other EBAY executives reported Sell trades in the last month. Based on Ebay’s latest earnings report for the quarter ending March 31, the company posted quarterly revenue of $2.62 billion and quarterly net profit of $518 million. In comparison, last year the company earned revenue of $2.61 billion and had a net profit of $407 million. EBAY’s market cap is $33.18B and the company has a P/E ratio of 13.75. Currently, Ebay has an average volume of 7.81M.
EY Firm Shared Financial Earnings Information, Says Infibeam (Bloomberg)
For most of the last year, Infibeam’s auditors questioned its accounting practices. Now the company is pointing a finger at one of its auditors. Last week, online retailer Infibeam Avenues Ltd.’s board of directors decided to sack their current audit firm SRBC & Co for an information breach. SRBC is an network firm of EY, one of the big four auditors across the world. On May 7, Infibeam’s notice to shareholders revealed the specific breaches the auditor has been accused of. The notices state that as an insider the audit firm breached regulations by sharing the company’s unpublished financial earnings information.
