Pump-and-Dump By Press
What are you to do if you’ve got a hot stock tip—literally, in this case, as it’s a bit of material non-public information—but not the patience to actually wait for the company whose shares you bought announce the takeover approach you’re counting on to make you rich? Well, you call the Bloomberg switchboard and ask to speak to an M&A reporter—a trick that, if no one bothers to put the pieces together like those meddlesome federal prosecutors in Brooklyn, also has the benefit of making that material information no longer non-public.
Jason Peltz, 39, entered the plea in Brooklyn federal court to two counts of insider trading and tax evasion a year after initially pleading not guilty…. Peltz also provided a tip about the takeover bid to a reporter, who wrote an article about the offer that resulted in an increase in Ferro's stock price, [U.S. Attorney Breon] Peace's office said on Tuesday.
Prosecutors did not name the journalist or the media outlet, but Reuters and other media have identified him as Ed Hammond, a deals reporter with Bloomberg in New York, based on a review of articles mentioned in Peltz's 2021 indictment. Hammond is not accused of any wrongdoing.
Totally unrelated to the above, if you’ve got some advance news of something big, tips at dealbreaker dot com. Just sayin’.
New York man admits to insider trading following takeover tip [Reuters]
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