US unveils criminal charges against two Israelis in insider trader scheme
US prosecutors in New York City have revealed criminal
charges against two Israeli traders for illegal trading in several
biotechnology and healthcare companies in connection with a sprawling
international insider trading scheme.
Tomer Feingold and Dov Malnik were accused in a 15-count
indictment of securities fraud, wire fraud, tender offer fraud, concealment of
a money laundering scheme and conspiracy, Reuters reported Friday citing local
authorities.
According to the report, officials have further stated that
the defendants, who lived in Geneva, Switzerland, made millions of dollars of
profit by trading on nonpublic information concerning mergers and potential
transactions involving such companies as Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc, Avanir
Pharmaceuticals Inc and InterMune Inc.
This is while the US Securities and Exchange Commission
(SEC) had originally filed related civil charges against Feingold and Malnik in
March 2020, but their indictment remained sealed until Thursday.
While attorneys representing Feingold and Malnik in the SEC
case did not immediately respond to press inquiries for comment, the office of
US Attorney Audrey Strauss in New York’s Manhattan district stated that Malnik
is in federal custody but Feingold is not.
According to SEC authorities, the two Israeli traders
received tips from another trader in Switzerland, who had obtained them from
investment bankers Benjamin Taylor and Darina Windsor, who had worked
respectively at Moelis & Co and Centerview Partners LLC.
The other trader, identified in media reports as Marc Demane
Debih from Geneva, pleaded guilty to 38 charges and cooperated in US
prosecutors' insider trading case against Telemaque Lavidas, a pharmaceutical
executive that was convicted in January 2010 and later sentenced to one year
and one day in prison.
He had been among six people charged in four indictments in
October 2019 over an insider trading plot that prosecutors said produced tens
of millions of dollars in illegal profits, the report added.
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