Former Equifax executive charged with insider trading before data breach made public
Source: The Washington Post
By Renae Merle March 14 at 10:40 AM
Federal prosecutors on Wednesday charged a former Equifax executive with insider trading, alleging that he profited from confidential information about a data breach at the company that compromised sensitive data of 143 million people to make a profit.
Jun Ying, former chief information officer of a U.S. business unit of Equifax, faces both civil and criminal charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission and U.S. Attorneys Office for the Northern District of Georgia.
Ying used confidential information to conclude that his company had suffered a massive data breach, and he dumped his stock before the news went public, Richard R. Best, Director of the SECs Atlanta Regional Office, said in a statement. Corporate insiders who learn inside information, including information about material cyber intrusions, cannot betray shareholders for their own financial benefit.
Equifax, a major consumer credit reporting agency, disclosed last year that hackers had obtained sensitive information, including Social Security numbers and dates of birth, for 143 million people. The breach began in May and was discovered by the company on July 29.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2018/03/14/former-equifax-executive-charged-with-insider-trading-ahead-of-data-breach/
LittleGirl
(8,277 posts)"According to the SEC complaint, before the breach was made public, Ying exercised all of his Equifax stock options, reaping a profit of nearly $1 million and avoiding losses of more than $117,000 in losses."
That fucker should go to jail!
Our data is not safe with this company and our credit reports are compromised.
Damn it.
rurallib
(62,373 posts)Hope he gets a huge fine and a long stretch in the pokey.
This crap keeps on happening until some CEOs spend time in jail and lose most of their money - in other words, there are consequences.
AllyCat
(16,135 posts)It is painfully obvious what happened here. However, it does take time to make a solid case before charging someone. Patience is difficult when so many have suffered.