Thursday, September 26, 2013

Qualcomm Exec and Merrill Lynch Broker Charged with Insider Trading

The SEC has charged a former Qualcomm executive and his Merrill Lynch broker with insider trading in an elaborate scheme involving family members and off shore brokerage accounts.

The Securities and Exchange Commission said that former Qualcomm executive Jing Wang and his advisor, Gary Yin, made illegal trades in his company’s stock and that of a company purchased by Qualcomm. From 2006 to 2012, Yin and Wang both set up offshore entities to disguise their trades and hide some $271,644 in total profit, according to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.

According to the SEC, Yin helped Wang set up “sham brokerage accounts,” which were registered in the British Virgin Islands under family members’ names to disguise ownership. The complaint also alleges that Yin created his own offshore account in the British Virgin Islands under the name of his mother-in-law.

The two funneled money into those accounts in order to make trades based on information such as the announcement of a Qualcomm revenue revision and the company’s 2011 acquisition of Atheros Communications, the SEC alleges.

His Financial Advisor With Insider Trading For more information, see SEC.gov | SEC Charges Former Qualcomm Executive and His Financial Advisor With Insider Trading Through Secret Offshore Accounts