Dive Brief:
- Between 2012 and 2014, Zachary Zwerko passed confidential information about three stocks to a product manager at BNY Mellon.
- Specific information he illegally confided involved Merck's acquisition of Idenix Pharmaceuticals, as well as the possibility of a takeover of Ardea BioSciences and ViroPharma Inc.
- The recipient of the information, David Post, a friend of Zwerko's from Rutger's Business School, was able to earn $737,000 from the illicit information, and to give Zwerko $57,000 of those earnings.
Dive Insight:
Not only is Zwerko facing a charge of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, but he is also facing three counts of securities fraud, as well as civil charges from the SEC.
Currently, he is attempting to negotiate a plea deal. It should be noted that Zwerko is not the only person involved in this insider trading scandal. All told, there are 92 people charged in this crackdown.