Introduction There are few legal situations that create more stress and uncertainty for investors, corporate insiders, pharma employees, investment bankers, or securities professionals than learning that securities regulators are investigating you for insider trading.  Federal regulators, including the SEC and DOJ, aggressively pursue insider trading cases, and that historical trend appears to be continuing without...Read More

When it comes to SEC insider trading investigations, I have a unique perspective. I have both investigated and prosecuted insider trading cases when I worked for the SEC as an attorney in its enforcement division, and have successfully defended them for over the last twenty-five years as a SEC defense attorney after having left the...Read More

We’re proud to share that David R. Chase was quoted in a recent CBC article examining the growing scrutiny around prediction markets and their role in speculative trading on geopolitical events. In the article, David Chase offered expert insight into how traditional securities law principles—especially around insider trading and fraud—might apply in these emerging platforms as...Read More

Insider trading in the securities markets has been a constant, notwithstanding the SEC’s years long efforts to deter it through investigations and prosecutions. Now, with the proliferation of the prediction markets, including Polymarket and Kalshi, there are increasing concerns that illegal insider trading may be taking place on such platforms potentially threatening their integrity and...Read More

Yes, the Securities and Exchange Commission often relies on electronic communications, like emails, text messages and social media chats to prove insider trading.  In fact, such communications can prove to be critical evidence in establishing some or all of the key elements of an insider trading prosecution: knowledge, intent, relationships and, in some cases, efforts...Read More

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) obtained a final consent judgment against Robert Del Prete, a 38-year-old resident of Brick, New Jersey and former SPAC accounting consultant, for insider trading in the stock of HighCape Capital Acquisition Corp. The SEC Complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, charges...Read More

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) obtained a final judgment against Shaohua (Michael) Yin, a Chinese National, and partner at a Hong Kong-based private equity firm, for insider trading using five nominee accounts from addresses in Beijing and Palo Alto, California, as well as on a computer that also accessed Yin’s email accounts. The...Read More

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently settled charges against Philip Markin, a resident of Weehawken, New Jersey, employed as an elevator mechanic, for insider trading in a scheme to trade ahead of a pharmaceutical company tender offer.  He is the fifth individual charged in connection with the alleged insider trading scheme. The SEC’s...Read More

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed fraud charges against Matthew Groom, a resident of North Carolina and self-employed Managing Director of TechNet UC, a private information technology consulting company that he co-founded, for illegal insider trading in the securities of Spero Therapeutics Inc., a Delaware corporation based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, focused on the...Read More

There are two legal theories of insider trading recognized by the Securities and Exchange Commission: (1) the classical theory, and (2) the misappropriation theory. Under the classical theory, corporate insiders, like officers, directors, and/or employees, violate the federal securities laws by trading in their company’s stock on the basis of material non-public information (MNPI) in...Read More