Chinese fintech exec stole insider information to trade tech shares: SEC

The compliance main at a Chinese payment processor was billed by the U.S. Securities and Trade Commission and New York federal prosecutors with violating insider investing legal guidelines immediately after sneaking onto his girlfriend’s pc to watch meetings amongst expense bankers and providers.

Steven Teixeira, who served as main compliance officer for the U.S. arm of China’s LianLian Worldwide, pleaded responsible to the federal fees less than a cooperation settlement. The SEC charges stay remarkable, the agency reported Thursday.

Teixeira allegedly acquired insider facts, which include progress understanding of Broadcom’s announced $61 billion acquisition of VMware from 2022, and shared it with an associate for gain. The SEC claims Teixeira received the information from the Outlook calendars and information of his girlfriend, who was used as an government assistant at an unnamed New York-based expenditure lender.

The nonpublic information and facts integrated phrase sheet data and offer planning by a host of technology companies, including for the VMware deal and Thoma Bravo’s planned buy of Proofpoint, allegedly allowing for Teixeira to gather more than $730,000 in earnings.

Teixeira’s girlfriend, who was not named in the complaint, requested him “to check her operate electronic mail though she was away in the course of the workday, and to inform her if she acquired e-mail that demanded her focus.”

Proofpoint was taken non-public in 2021 by non-public fairness organization Thoma Bravo in a $12.3 billion deal, within just the timeframe Teixeira was allegedly trading insider details. Teixeira procured possibilities on Proofpoint stock on April 22, 2021, times in advance of the announcement. Broadcom’s offer for VMware has been delayed by regulators.

Teixeira allegedly shared the insider facts with his associate, Jordan Meadow, who is also billed with violating federal insider investing legal guidelines.

Meadow made use of the facts in his work as an expense advisor, steering his clients towards profitable options and gaining “hundreds of hundreds” of bucks in commissions, the SEC alleged.

Meadow also faces federal prices, which had been unveiled Thursday, in the Southern District of New York.

“Our complaint alleges brazen betrayals of have confidence in by Teixeira, who misappropriated details from his girlfriend’s notebook to make a fast buck, and by industry-veteran Meadow, who was all too eager to use the facts to line his pockets,” Scott Thompson, the SEC’s Philadelphia associate regional director, said in a press release.

Check out: Sens. Kennedy and Van Hollen introduce bill to block overseas executives from insider buying and selling