Two in Ukraine to Pay $30M to Settle Hacking-Insider Trading Charges - NBC News
▻http://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/two-ukraine-pay-30m-settle-hacking-insider-trading-charges-n427141
Two defendants agreed to pay $30 million to settle U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission civil insider trading charges over a scheme to hack into networks that distribute corporate news releases, the regulator said Monday.
Jaspen Capital Partners Ltd. and CEO Andriy Supranonok, both from Kiev, Ukraine, are the first of 34 defendants to settle SEC charges over allegations of the theft of more than 150,000 press releases from Business Wire, Marketwired and PR Newswire before the news became public.
The SEC said the scheme resulted in more than $100 million of illegal profit over a roughly five-year period. Authorities said traders would give hackers “shopping lists” of press releases they wanted to see in advance, and then make trades based on them.
Nine of the defendants also face criminal charges. Jaspen and Supranonok were not criminally charged.
[…]
Without admitting wrongdoing, the defendants agreed to transfer $30 million from frozen brokerage accounts, the SEC said. The accord requires court approval.