BROWSE BY TOPIC
- Bad Brokers
- Compliance Concepts
- Investor Protection
- Investments - Unsuitable
- Investments - Strategies
- Investments - Private
- Features/Scandals
- Companies
- Technology/Internet
- Rules & Regulations
- Crimes
- Investments
- Bad Advisors
- Boiler Rooms
- Hirings/Transitions
- Terminations/Cost Cutting
- Regulators
- Wall Street News
- General News
- Donald Trump & Co.
- Lawsuits/Arbitrations
- Regulatory Sanctions
- Big Banks
- People
TRENDING TAGS
Stories of Interest
- Sarah ten Siethoff is New Associate Director of SEC Investment Management Rulemaking Office
- Catherine Keating Appointed CEO of BNY Mellon Wealth Management
- Credit Suisse to Pay $47Mn to Resolve DOJ Asia Probe
- SEC Chair Clayton Goes 'Hat in Hand' Before Congress on 2019 Budget Request
- SEC's Opening Remarks to the Elder Justice Coordinating Council
- Massachusetts Jury Convicts CA Attorney of Securities Fraud
- Deutsche Bank Says 3 Senior Investment Bankers to Leave Firm
- World’s Biggest Hedge Fund Reportedly ‘Bearish On Financial Assets’
- SEC Fines Constant Contact, Popular Email Marketer, for Overstating Subscriber Numbers
- SocGen Agrees to Pay $1.3 Billion to End Libya, Libor Probes
- Cryptocurrency Exchange Bitfinex Briefly Halts Trading After Cyber Attack
- SEC Names Valerie Szczepanik Senior Advisor for Digital Assets and Innovation
- SEC Modernizes Delivery of Fund Reports, Seeks Public Feedback on Improving Fund Disclosure
- NYSE Says SEC Plan to Limit Exchange Rebates Would Hurt Investors
- Deutsche Bank faces another challenge with Fed stress test
- Former JPMorgan Broker Files racial discrimination suit against company
- $3.3Mn Winning Bid for Lunch with Warren Buffett
- Julie Erhardt is SEC's New Acting Chief Risk Officer
- Chyhe Becker is SEC's New Acting Chief Economist, Acting Director of Economic and Risk Analysis Division
- Getting a Handle on Virtual Currencies - FINRA
ABOUT FINANCIALISH
We seek to provide information, insights and direction that may enable the Financial Community to effectively and efficiently operate in a regulatory risk-free environment by curating content from all over the web.
Stay Informed with the latest fanancialish news.
SUBSCRIBE FOR
NEWSLETTERS & ALERTS
FOLLOW US
Friends in High Places Don’t Protect Insider Traders
by Howard Haykin
AND THEN HIS WORLD CAME CRASHING DOWN. In June 2017, Christopher Collins received a call informing him that Innate’s new multiple sclerosis drug had failed its clinical trial, which he knew would have a devastating effect on the price of Innate shares. Collins immediately called his son, Cameron, and advised him to sell his shares before the test results became public. Cameron then tipped others, including his future father-in-law, Stephen Zarsky, to do the same. All told, Cameron Collins and Stephen Zarsky together sold nearly 1.7 million Innate shares in advance of Innate’s public announcement of the negative results, thereby avoiding combined losses of more than $700,000.
THREE PLEAD GUILTY TO INSIDER TRADING. The SEC website headline read: Former Congressman and Two Others Settle Insider Trading Charges.
Under terms of the settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Former U.S. Rep. Christopher Collins agreed to be permanently barred from acting as an officer or director of any public company. Cameron Collins, and Cameron’s future father-in-law, Stephen Zarsky, agreed to pay back the losses they had avoided in the insider trading scheme plus interest - approximately $800,000.
Since each of the 3 defendants has pleaded guilty to related criminal charges, they will each next appear before a federal judge for prison sentences. Christopher Collins is scheduled for sentencing on January 17, 2020, at which time he's likely to get a prison sentence of between 4 and 5 years.
It’s not clear if, or to what extent, any others - including friends, family members and government employees - will be charged in this insider trading case.
WARNING: TRADING ON MATERIAL INSIDER INFORMATION WILL BE DETECTED. With today’s technologies, the SEC has 'its finger on the pulse' of the financial markets, with programs capable of identifying and detecting large and unusual trading patterns – particularly for stocks and options that are impacted by sensitive news announcements. Attempts to trade without detection is, for all intents and purposes, an exercise in futility – even by people with FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES.
[For further details, click on SEC Complaint 2018-151.]
[For further details on Christopher Collins's guilty plea, click on NYTimes 10/1/19.]
Related Stories: Crimes
-
Like Money Flying Out the Window at Royal Alliance
April 15, 2020 -
Power of Attorney = Power to Convert
April 12, 2020 -
The Betting Line – ‘Zero Pay Off’ On a Sports Betting Scam
January 2, 2020