The Best Insider Trading Case Ever Closes

Posted by John Carney, Jun 06, 2008, 9:34am

We're perilously near the end of what must be our favorite insider trading case. Back in 2004, a group of young bankers got together in a spa near the Fulton Fish Market and concocted a scheme that seemed based on every insider trading case that ever existed. They'd trade on their own M&A deals. They'd steal Business Week. (Really. Business Week.) They'd front the trades through Eastern European grandmothers. Basically, it's your best ideas when you are drunk. And they did it.

Now a federal court has entered final judgments against four of the defendants. The Commission charged 17 people in connection with an international scheme that netted nearly $7 million in illicit gains.

SEC Closes Case on Jail-Bound Insiders [CCH Wall Street]

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Comments

1

Posted by guest, Jun 06, 2008 10:11AM

The only crimes you hear of are those committed by either dumb or extremely unlucky criminals. This should definitely be catalogued under 'dumb.'

2

Posted by guest, Jun 06, 2008 10:36AM

"The judgment orders Eugene Plotkin, Stanislav Shpigelman and Elvis Santana to repay ill-gotten gains of $12,000 and $475,000, respectively. The two men, along with Jason Smith, have been ordered enjoined against future violations"

Respectively, eh?

3

Posted by guest, Jun 06, 2008 10:40AM

Line up in a circle!

4

Posted by John Carney, Jun 06, 2008 10:44AM

Yeah. We cleaned that up because it made no sense. Who the hell is this Elvis character? That's the first time we heard of him. Presumably he doesn't exist.

5

Posted by counterclockwise, Jun 06, 2008 10:47AM

The original plotters, Plotkin and Pajcin, worked for Goldman Sachs as traders. They brought in Shpigelman, a mergers & acquisitions guy from Merrill Lynch. It all went downhill from there.

The names sound like they were dreamed up by Mel Brooks for a musical about crazy times on Wall Street.

6

Posted by guest, Jun 06, 2008 10:57AM

The guy only made $12k? What sort of half assed deal was this?

7

Posted by guest, Jun 06, 2008 11:10AM

And you wonder why Eastern European economies still suck! How the hell do you even pronounce their names? Plotkin sounds like a Kremlin bodyguard

8

Posted by guest, Jun 06, 2008 11:20AM

Can you imagine the conversation around a dark table at Ulysses around 11pm?

"Guys, guys, guys...seriously...listen up. I've got this idea that NOBODY has thought of. There's NO WAY that anybody will catch on! But before I spill the beans, someone get another round of vodka."

9

Posted by guest, Jun 06, 2008 11:56AM

The guys made much more than $12K. The main conspirators got beaucoup jail time, which made up for their low fines.

10

Posted by guest, Jun 06, 2008 12:21PM

It's too bad they were brought down before getting a chance to run some dumbass mutual fund after-hours trading scheme.

11

Posted by guest, Jun 06, 2008 1:55PM

The "spa" must have been Spa 88. I love that place. The Russian ladies working there are super hot.

12

Posted by guest, Jun 09, 2008 11:20AM

@1:55 Do you get happy ending ?

13

Posted by guest, Jun 09, 2008 11:28AM

@12:21 top hedge funds ran that scheme. what have YOU done lately that is so sharp?

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