Insider trading appears to be the U.S. SEC violation du jour. The agency filed insider trading charges against 10 individuals July 25, including a former FBI trainee and his friend who made about $82,000 and $1.3 million, respectively, from illegally trading ahead of the February 2021 announcement of Merck & Co. Inc.’s $1.85 billion tender offer to acquire Pandion Therapeutics Inc.
Another biopharma consultant got on the wrong side of the U.S. SEC for insider trading. To resolve the allegations, Hugh Lee Sweeney, a longtime consultant for Catabasis Pharmaceutical Inc., agreed to a cease-and-desist order, disgorgement of $57,931 and prejudgment interest of $2,499.71, and civil penalties of $57,931.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed insider trading charges against Doron Tavlin, formerly the vice president of business development for Mazor Robotics Ltd., of Caesarea, Israel, over a transaction that took place four years ago. The SEC is charging Tavlin with disclosing the then-impending acquisition of Mazor by Dublin-based Medtronic plc. to a personal friend, but these types of activities are becoming easier to detect thanks to analytics used by the SEC.
An executive compensation consultant is facing both civil and criminal charges related to insider trading in advance of an acquisition announcement by one of his clients, Kadmon Holding Inc.
John-Michael Havrilla, formerly the director of investor relations at Pavmed, has agreed to pay $160,000 in civil penalties over allegations he used inside knowledge of an impending earnings report to help himself to $80,000 in ill-gained profits, a sure sign the SEC is not ignoring med-tech firms in its pursuit of insider trading charges.
A lead clinical trial investigator for Five Prime Therapeutics Inc.’s flagship cancer drug, bemarituzumab, is facing SEC and criminal charges related to insider trading.
Usama Malik, Immunomedics Inc.’s former chief financial officer, and his former partner, Lauren Wood, face SEC charges related to insider trading in Immunomedics’ stock.
Holly Hand, a New York-based senior project manager overseeing a clinical trial for Neuralstem Inc. (now Seneca Biopharma Inc.), agreed to pay $103,875 to resolve an SEC complaint of insider trading.
