On Sept. 28, the SEC charged Anthony Viggiano for insider trading ahead of numerous merger-and-acquisition deals.
The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleged Viggiano tipped two friends on upcoming M&A deals and strategic partnerships.
Chief of the SEC’s Market Abuse Unit, Joseph Sansone, commented:
“As alleged in our complaint, Anthony Viggiano violated his employers’ trust by misusing his access to confidential information to repeatedly and unjustly enrich himself and his friends.”
Insider Trading Rife
According to the complaint, Viggiano passed tips on at least eight transactions between 2021 and 2023 to his pals.
Moreover, court papers revealed that subsequent trades generated more than $580,000 of illegal profit, according to reports.
The SEC also charged the recipients of the trading tips, Christopher Salamone, Stephen Forlano, and Nathan Bleckley. Viggiano faces nine securities fraud and conspiracy charges, as he “betrayed the trust of his employers,” said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams in a statement before adding:
“No matter how evasive insider traders’ conduct, or the lengths gone to hide their offences, this office will track down and prosecute those who attempt to cheat the system.”
The analyst worked at Blackstone for about seven months and at Goldman for more than a year before he was terminated.
Earlier this week, a Massachusetts police chief was charged with insider trading that allegedly netted more than $2.2 million in illegal profits.
On Sept. 19, a former Republican congressman was sentenced to 22 months in prison for trading on inside information. Stephen Buyer was found guilty of making nearly $350,000 in insider trading using prior knowledge of two large telecoms deals.
The former politician served on the House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, which oversees the US telecoms industry.
In August, the former head of product at the NFT marketplace OpenSea was sentenced to three months in jail after being found guilty of insider trading.
Politicians in The Spotlight
High-profile figures, such as US Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, are also in the spotlight.
Her husband, Paul Pelosi, has faced backlash over his stock trades that seem to coincide with US legislation in the technology sector.
The situation is so prevalent that a “Nancy Pelosi Stock Tracker” X account has been set up, gaining 340,000 followers. It reports on politicians and public figures’ potential insider trading activities and is very busy.
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