Accused Insider Traders Debate Whether To Burn Or Wash A Stack Of Cash

Author:
Bess Levin
Updated:
Jan 14, 2019
Original:
Apr 6, 2011

You're an (alleged) insider trader who's been working a scam for a couple decades. You suddenly get worried the Feds are on your ass. You paid an accomplice a few hundred thousand from one particular transaction (you withdrew the money from an ATM, natch) and now you're worried it might come back to bite you in the ass. What to do? If you're Garrett Bauer you have a level-headed debate about it with the guy you gave said cash (who hid it at his cousin's house), in a conversation you don't know is being recorded.

Proposal number one: just burn the money.

Proposals number two: wash the money.

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And for this he should do time? Gautham Shankar, of New Canaan, Connecticut, who also worked as a trader at Schottenfeld Group LLC, is scheduled to be sentenced later today by U.S. District Judge Richard Sullivan in New York. Shankar, who faces as long as 25 years in prison, earned less than $450,000 in the insider-trading scheme, his lawyer said. Shankar, who worked on the sales desk at Goldman Sachs from July 2000 until February 2003, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and a count of securities fraud in October 2009. He admitted that while working at Schottenfeld, he passed and profited from illegal tips he obtained from Zvi Goffer, a former Galleon Group LLC employee, and Thomas Hardin, a former analyst at Lanexa Global Management. “As the government learned during its meetings with Mr. Shankar, he has always, quite literally, given large sums of money away to the homeless on the streets of New York, including cash given to him by his co-conspirators for passing tips from Hardin,” his lawyer, Frederick Sosinsky, said in court papers.Helped People “From bringing the homeless a cup of coffee in the morning and sharing time with them to handing them hundreds of dollars at a time, Mr. Shankar has always been unable to simply walk past those in the most distress,” Sosinsky said. Ex-Goldman Employee Seeks Leniency for Insider Scheme [Bloomberg]

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Pop quiz: you're an insider trader looking to score some fresh intel. You've exhausted all of your sources and what's more, you're sick of just hitting them up for tips-- you want to make obtaining material non-public information fun again. You figure the best way to go about that is to identify a target with obvious vulnerabilities that can be exploited for profit (always a good time). Do you a) go with the Danielle Chiesi move (i.e. requesting info post or, better yet, mid-coitus) b) get ordained as a Catholic priest and press penitents for potential market moving news during confession or c) go for broke: start attending AA meetings, become someone's sponsor and then, when he/she's confiding in you that the stress of his/her job at a certain company has been driving him/her to down a bottle of vodka every night, move in for the kill? If you're Timothy J. McGee, the answer is simple. The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged two financial advisors and three others in their circle of family and friends with insider trading for more than $1.8 million in illicit profits based on confidential information about a Philadelphia-based insurance holding company’s merger negotiations with a Japanese firm. The SEC alleges that Timothy J. McGee and Michael W. Zirinsky, who are registered representatives at Ameriprise Financial Services, illegally traded in the stock of Philadelphia Consolidated Holding Corp. (PHLY) based on nonpublic information about the company’s impending merger with Tokio Marine Holdings. McGee obtained the inside information from a PHLY senior executive who was confiding in him through their relationship at Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) about pressures he was confronting at work. McGee then purchased PHLY stock in advance of the merger announcement on July 23, 2008, and made a $292,128 profit when the stock price jumped 64 percent that day. “McGee stole information shared with him in the utmost confidence, and as securities industry professionals he and Zirinsky clearly knew better,” said Elaine C. Greenberg, Associate Director of the SEC’s Philadelphia Regional Office. “As this case demonstrates, we will follow each link in a tipping chain all the way to Hong Kong if necessary.” From the complaint: In early July 2008, immediately after an AA meeting, the Insider confined to McGee that he had been drinking as a result of the mounting pressure, and revealed to McGee that the source of the pressure was ongoing confidential negotiations to sell PHLY. The Insider told McGee that the stress generated from his participation in the negotiations was having a negative impact on his personal life. In response, McGee expressed interest in the details of the PHLY sale and questioned the Insider about the details fo the impending deal. SEC Charges Five With Insider Trading on Confidential Merger Negotiations Between Philadelphia Company and Japanese Firm [SEC]

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