SEC Charges Former Ontrak Inc. Executive Chairman Terren S. Peizer with Insider Trading

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced insider trading charges against Terren S. Peizer, Executive Chairman of the Santa Monica, California-based healthcare treatment company Ontrak Inc. The SEC alleges that Peizer sold more than $20 million worth of Ontrak stock between May and August 2021 while in possession of material nonpublic negative information about the company’s largest customer. According to the complaint, Peizer learned of the tenuous relationship with his company’s largest client before May 2021 and established a Rule 10b5-1 trading plan in the name of Acuitas Group Holdings, LLC, his investment vehicle. As a result of this scheme, the SEC alleges that Peizer avoided more than $12.7 million in losses by selling nearly 600,000 shares of Ontrak stock worth $19.2 million and an additional 45,000 shares worth over $1.9 million when he learned that the relationship was on the verge of termination in August 2021. The SEC seeks civil penalties, injunctive relief, disgorgement, and a permanent bar from serving as a director or officer on any public company in addition to criminal charges filed by the U.S. Department of Justice.