SEC Drops Herbalife Insider Trading Charges Against Roomies Due To Scheduling Conflict
The conflict being that the buddies have fled to Poland and don't plan to return any time soon.
The Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday filed to dismiss insider-trading charges against a man accused of profiting from privileged information tied to Herbalife Ltd. The SEC had charged Jordan Peixoto, of Toronto, of buying Herbalife options after hearing William Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management LP was planning to make a negative public presentation about the nutritional supplements maker. Mr. Peixoto ultimately made $47,100 in profits. The SEC said it is dismissing the charges because the two men who developed the information and passed it on to Mr. Peixoto aren’t available to testify at the trial, which had been set for March.
According to the agency, Mr. Peixoto was tipped off about Mr. Ackman’s planned comments by Filip Szymik, who learned the information from his roommate and longtime friend Mariusz Adamski, then an analyst with Mr. Ackman’s Pershing Square. The two men, who were roommates in New York City at the time of the event, have since returned to their native Poland and have indicated they intend to assert their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination if compelled to testify.
