A former broker and three traders have now pleaded guilty to participating in a long-running insider trading scheme that used advance information about upcoming stock offerings from various investment banks.
In a federal court in New York on Monday, two traders — John Lowe and Richard Ringel — pleaded guilty to securities fraud, joining two earlier guilty pleas from a former broker with Joseph Gunnar & Co. LLC, David Cooper, and an independent trader, Randy Grewal — in connection with an insider trading scheme.
According to court filings, the scheme allegedly ran from January 2018 through May 2024, and used illegally obtained confidential information from various sources, including Cooper and another brokerage employee, about upcoming secondary stock offerings. The information included the timing, structure, and pricing of forthcoming deals, which was leaked to the traders who then used it to short the companies’ stock ahead of the offerings.
U.S. authorities alleged that brokerage employees shared the confidential deal information to induce clients, including Lowe and Ringel, to buy shares in the offerings so the brokers would receive compensation from the underwriters. The traders, in turn, generated over US$1 million in illicit trading profits.
“By admitting they conspired to steal confidential information from investment banks and trade ahead of multiple secondary stock offerings, these defendants have acknowledged a years-long scheme that corrupted the markets for their own gain and generated more than a million dollars in illicit profit,” said Pete Gizas, acting special agent in charge, U.S. Homeland Security Investigations, in a release.
In early 2025, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also filed charges against the four men alleging that they breached securities laws, and seeking disgorgement, civil penalties, and permanent injunctions.