NEW YORK, July 25 — A former investment banker, a former FBI agent trainee and several others were charged today with insider trading in separate schemes that together generated millions of dollars in illegal profits, US prosecutors said.
Damian Williams, the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, was expected to address the charges in a press conference. Williams, nominated to the role by President Joe Biden, has made enforcement of financial crimes a focus since taking office last year.
The co-conspirator, identified by the SEC as Goel’s friend Akshay Niranjan, used the tips to trade in securities of some of those companies and then split approximately US$280,000 in profits with Goel, prosecutors said.Prosecutors also charged Seth Markin, the former FBI trainee, with insider trading for allegedly buying shares of Pandion Therapeutics Inc before a February 2021 tender offer for the company by Merck & Co.
Markin allegedly learned of the deal by secretly reviewing documents belonging to his then-romantic partner, who worked at a law firm representing Merck. In a third case, prosecutors said Amit Bhardwaj, a former executive at laser and optical fiber specialist Lumentum Holdings Inc, last fall bought shares in Coherent Inc after learning that Lumentum planned to acquire the company.Prosecutors separately announced charges against Stephen Buyer, a former US congress member, for buying shares in Sprint after learning of rival T-Mobile’s plans to acquire the firm in 2018.