NEW YORK (Reuters) - A former Wall Street investment banker was convicted on Wednesday for engaging in insider trading by tipping his father off to unannounced healthcare mergers, in a victory for prosecutors after an appellate ruling made pursuing such cases harder.
Sean Stewart, who previously worked at Perella Weinberg Partners and JPMorgan Chase & Co (N:JPM), was found guilty by a federal jury in Manhattan on all nine counts he faced, including securities fraud.
Stewart, 35, a Yale University graduate, was one of 107 people accused of insider trading since 2009 by prosecutors under Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.
His trial was Bharara's first since a 2014 appellate ruling narrowed the scope of insider trading laws.
U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain scheduled Stewart's sentencing for Feb. 17.
Prosecutors said from 2011 to 2014 Stewart provided his father Robert tips about five mergers, including INC Research's acquisition of Kendle International Inc, so his father could make lucrative trades before the deals' were announced.
Robert Stewart, 61, in some instances had a friend he met working at a real estate firm, Richard Cunniffe, conduct trades in his own accounts, because of concern he was too close to the source.
The trading enabled the elder Stewart and Cunniffe, 62, to make $1.16 million, prosecutors said.
Sean Stewart testified in his own defense. He displayed no emotion as the forewoman read the verdict, which came after more than a week of deliberation.
Robert Stewart was sentenced in May to a year of home detention after entering a guilty plea. Cunniffe also has pleaded guilty.