Chinese fintech exec stole insider facts to trade tech stocks: SEC

The compliance main at a Chinese payment processor was charged by the U.S. Securities and Trade Commission and New York federal prosecutors with violating insider buying and selling guidelines after sneaking on to his girlfriend’s personal computer to look at meetings between financial commitment bankers and firms.

Steven Teixeira, who served as main compliance officer for the U.S. arm of China’s LianLian World, pleaded responsible to the federal expenses beneath a cooperation arrangement. The SEC costs remain superb, the agency stated Thursday.

Teixeira allegedly attained insider data, such as advance information of Broadcom’s introduced $61 billion acquisition of VMware from 2022, and shared it with an associate for earnings. The SEC states Teixeira received the facts from the Outlook calendars and files of his girlfriend, who was used as an government assistant at an unnamed New York-primarily based financial commitment bank.

The nonpublic info provided phrase sheet data and offer setting up by a host of technological know-how businesses, including for the VMware deal and Thoma Bravo’s planned obtain of Proofpoint, allegedly making it possible for Teixeira to collect additional than $730,000 in profit.

Teixeira’s girlfriend, who was not named in the criticism, questioned him “to examine her perform e mail when she was absent in the course of the workday, and to inform her if she acquired e-mails that demanded her interest.”

Proofpoint was taken non-public in 2021 by private equity firm Thoma Bravo in a $12.3 billion deal, within just the timeframe Teixeira was allegedly investing insider details. Teixeira acquired options on Proofpoint inventory on April 22, 2021, days in advance of the announcement. Broadcom’s deal for VMware has been delayed by regulators.

Teixeira allegedly shared the insider details with his associate, Jordan Meadow, who is also billed with violating federal insider investing legislation.

Meadow made use of the info in his work as an financial investment advisor, steering his clientele towards beneficial alternatives and attaining “hundreds of thousands” of dollars in commissions, the SEC alleged.

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

“Our complaint alleges brazen betrayals of belief by Teixeira, who misappropriated info from his girlfriend’s laptop computer to make a fast buck, and by industry-veteran Meadow, who was all as well eager to use the details to line his pockets,” Scott Thompson, the SEC’s Philadelphia associate regional director, mentioned in a press release.

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