SEC Charges Insider Traders With Betraying Trust and Manipulating Markets

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced insider trading charges against Jordan Meadow, a registered representative for a New York-based broker-dealer, and Steven Teixeira, the Chief Compliance Officer of an international payment processing company. The SEC alleges that Teixeria accessed nonpublic information on potential upcoming acquisitions from the laptop of his girlfriend, who was employed at a prominent investment bank, without her knowledge. He then tipped this information to Meadow and other friends so that they could trade on it as well. As a result of this illegal scheme, Teixeria allegedly made unlawful profits of approximately $28,600, while Meadow profited more than $730,000. Additionally, Meadow is accused of recommending trades to his brokerage customers based on the material nonpublic information, which resulted in millions of dollars in profits for his clients and hundreds of thousands of dollars in commissions for himself. The SEC’s complaint seeks permanent injunctive relief, disgorgement with prejudgment interest, civil penalties, and bans on Meadow and Teixeira serving as officers or directors of public companies. The criminal charges for this matter are also being brought forward by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.