A man from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, has appeared in court and pleaded guilty on charges of insider trading. The man previously worked for the Shaw Group in his position as an executive for the company.
According to reports from the prosecution, they think that he brought in somewhere around $750,000 illegally. This money did not all go directly to him, but it was divided between him and one of his relatives.
The charges related to information he had about his own company. Back in 2012, Shaw Group was acquired in a business deal by the Chicago Bridge and Iron Company. It was determined that the man had information about that merger that he used for his own gain. The information was considered to be confidential, and he should not have been able to use it before the merger was finalized.
The U.S. Attorney who handled the case provided a statement about the integrity of the stock market process as a whole, saying that insider trading had to be stopped because it stripped the market of an even playing field that investors are supposed to enjoy. He said that the expense was to people who were shareholders, and that he had to take on cases where people put personal gain ahead of those shareholders.
Even someone who has been charged with a white collar crime like insider trading still has a right to a fair process throughout all of their trials and hearings, and they need to make sure that their rights are protected. An experienced criminal defense attorney will protect his or her client’s rights and ensure that court proceedings are fair and unbiased.
Source: The Times Picayune, “Former Shaw executive Scott Zeringue convicted of insider trading,” June 27, 2014
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