
Please try another search
(Reuters) -An equities trader at a large U.S. asset manager was criminally charged with using information about his employer's trades to make tens of millions of dollars in an insider trading scheme, federal prosecutors in New York said on Wednesday.
Equities trader Lawrence Billimek, 51, of Hailey, Idaho, was arrested in Texas and day trader Alan Williams, 77, of West Linn, Oregon, was arrested in his home state, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors allege they made tens of millions of dollars on more than a thousand trades ahead of large stock transactions by Billimek's employer.
Both were charged with conspiracy, securities fraud and wire fraud in an indictment unsealed in Manhattan.
Billimek has worked for financial services firm TIAA-CREF since 2012, according to his LinkedIn profile.
A spokesperson for the TIAA's Nuveen asset-management arm said the company learned of charges against an employee today and immediately placed him on leave and began its own review. The company is cooperating with authorities.
Attorneys for the men could not immediately be reached.
Prosecutors said Billimek passed confidential information about stocks his employer was about to trade on, including Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ:LULU) Inc and Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:ULTA) Inc, to Williams starting in 2016. Williams subsequently placed profitable trades ahead of those transactions, according to the indictment.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission also filed a parallel civil lawsuit against both men.
Are you sure you want to block %USER_NAME%?
By doing so, you and %USER_NAME% will not be able to see any of each other's Investing.com's posts.
%USER_NAME% was successfully added to your Block List
Since you’ve just unblocked this person, you must wait 48 hours before renewing the block.
I feel that this comment is:
Thank You!
Your report has been sent to our moderators for review
Add a Comment
We encourage you to use comments to engage with other users, share your perspective and ask questions of authors and each other. However, in order to maintain the high level of discourse we’ve all come to value and expect, please keep the following criteria in mind:
Enrich the conversation, don’t trash it.
Stay focused and on track. Only post material that’s relevant to the topic being discussed.
Be respectful. Even negative opinions can be framed positively and diplomatically. Avoid profanity, slander or personal attacks directed at an author or another user. Racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination will not be tolerated.
Perpetrators of spam or abuse will be deleted from the site and prohibited from future registration at Investing.com’s discretion.