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SEC charges former Amazon finance manager and family with insider trading

162 pointsby xoxoyover 4 years ago

15 comments

eelover 4 years ago
&gt; On January 15, 2018, Bohra used her work computer to search Google for “AMZN.”<p>How does the SEC know this? Is it most likely browser history? Google account history? Corporate monitoring software?
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boulosover 4 years ago
From the complaint, it was OTM calls and puts, but it seemed like they were trying to decide how much to go in.<p>&gt; 42. Prior to the completion of Bohra’s initial review, her Husband had purchased 500 Amazon shares in put options in his account on January 8. These put options had an expiration date of February 16, 2018, and they represented his expectation that Amazon’s stock price would fall by that date.<p>&gt; 48. During this same period, Bohra’s Husband sold the put options that were held in his account and instead purchased both Amazon common stock and Amazon call options in his account as well as accounts belonging to Bohra’s Father-in-Law and Bohra’s Mother-in-Law, now betting that Amazon’s stock price would increase.<p>&gt; On the morning of January 22, 2018, Bohra’s Husband again logged in from his home and sold the 500 Amazon shares in put options that were in his account and replaced them with a purchase of 1,000 Amazon shares in call options. That afternoon, Bohra’s Husband logged in from his workplace to purchase 4,000 Amazon shares in call options in his account; 2,000 Amazon shares in the same call options in one of Bohra’s Mother-in-Law’s accounts; 1,000 Amazon shares in the same call options in another of Bohra’s Mother-in-Law’s account and 1,000 Amazon shares in the same call options in Bohra’s Father-in-Law’s account. The call options purchased that afternoon had the same strike price and expiration date.<p>&gt; 51. Over the next few days, Bohra’s Husband and Bohra’s Father-in-Law continued to purchase Amazon common stock and call options, selling call options they had purchased on January 22 and 23 and replacing them with new call options at higher strike prices that they purchased on January 24, 25, and 26, and on February 1.<p>&gt; 53. By the time that Amazon’s fourth fiscal quarter and year end 2017 earnings was 11 announced on February 1, 2018, Bohra’s Husband and Bohra’s Father-in-Law had spent more than $850,000 on purchasing Amazon call options and common stock in order to trade, at least in part, based on the material nonpublic information that Bohra had provided.<p>&gt; 56. On February 1, 2018, after the market closed, Amazon announced its fourth fiscal quarter and year end 2017 earnings. The next day, February 2, 2018, Amazon’s stock price increased 2.87% over the prior day’s closing price.<p>&gt; 58. In total, accounts belonging to Bohra’s Husband, her Father-in-Law, and her 10 Mother-in-Law made a profit of approximately $664,000 by trading Amazon common stock and Amazon call options ahead of Amazon’s fourth fiscal quarter and year end 2017 earnings announcement.
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Whymessover 4 years ago
“The older I get the more I realize how many kinds of smart there are. There are a lot of kinds of smart. There are a lot of kinds of stupid, too.”<p>– Jeff Bezos
syspecover 4 years ago
These kind of things just make me laugh, I mean the lifetime earning potential for someone in this persons position is so high, and they blew it to make a quick 1M.<p>Reminds me of the Apple compliance lawyer busted for insider trading, I believe last year[0]<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.google.com&#x2F;amp&#x2F;s&#x2F;www.cnbc.com&#x2F;amp&#x2F;2019&#x2F;10&#x2F;24&#x2F;apple-lawyer-indicted-for-insider-trading.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.google.com&#x2F;amp&#x2F;s&#x2F;www.cnbc.com&#x2F;amp&#x2F;2019&#x2F;10&#x2F;24&#x2F;app...</a>
Topgamer7over 4 years ago
1.4M in profits? Doesn&#x27;t that seem like chump change? Like if you had insider information couldn&#x27;t you buy options a make much more? Assuming your info was guaranteed to play out predictably. And if it wasn&#x27;t is it really any better than general speculation?
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oztenover 4 years ago
How often is jail time included in these types of cases? If they merely lost their profits, this isn&#x27;t much of a punishment.
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curiousgalover 4 years ago
How did the SEC figure this out? Do they monitor the accounts of all financial employees&#x27; relatives?
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boulosover 4 years ago
For those wondering “really, they had the Amazon earnings ahead of time and only made $1.4M?” this reminded me of a good Matt Levine writeup about a group of folks who obtained massive numbers of earnings reports ahead of time [1]. Having the clear knowledge of the earnings report doesn’t give you perfect knowledge on how to trade it &#x2F; the reaction!<p>&gt; Their performance is statistically significantly greater than that of random choice. However, the difference is economically small. For example, only 31% of earnings announcements traded by the informed traders fell within the tail deciles. About 70% of their informed trades missed the biggest stock price return opportunities. They traded earnings announcements with an average absolute return of 5.15%. The average earnings announcement return in the tail deciles is 11.3% (median 9.2%).<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.bloomberg.com&#x2F;amp&#x2F;opinion&#x2F;articles&#x2F;2019-11-26&#x2F;knowing-the-future-isn-t-that-helpful" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.bloomberg.com&#x2F;amp&#x2F;opinion&#x2F;articles&#x2F;2019-11-26&#x2F;kn...</a>
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woeiruaover 4 years ago
This family will likely be ruined by these charges. Even if they successfully defend against these charges, the lawyer fees will wreck them financially.<p>Meanwhile, Mr. Musk has literally gotten a slap on the wrist for multiple flagrant violations of securities law. There are definitely two justice systems in the US. The ultra-rich do not play by the same rules that you and I do.
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hansdieter1337over 4 years ago
Pfff... beginners mistakes. There’s a TOR hidden service where you can trade insider information.
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coliveiraover 4 years ago
It is funny that high management is never considered to be doing illegal insider trading (except for obvious missteps), but they&#x27;re the ones responsible for capital allocation, stock&#x2F;option grants, and all kinds of decisions that will impact financial results in the next quarter.
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mrichover 4 years ago
That&#x27;s pocket change compared to some of the other things going on out there the SEC does not even investigate.
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smabieover 4 years ago
Too bad Matt Levine is out, I&#x27;m sure he would have a good time talking about just how terrible an idea this was. I assume these fools went with the classic &quot;buy a shit ton of illiquid and thinly traded OTM options&quot; route.
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jakupovicover 4 years ago
$1.4MM that&#x27;s all they could eke out of it, pitiful performance.
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notionalover 4 years ago
<i>As alleged, the family reaped illicit profits of approximately $1.4 million from their unlawful trading in Amazon securities.</i><p>Did anyone really need insider information to know Amazon stock was going to rise?<p>Although $1.4 million is life changing amount of money, I feel like for these people who were already being generously compensated in Amazon stock, it probably wasn&#x27;t worth the risk, especially given the quote below.<p><i>Laksha Bohra, the SEC’s civil complaint alleged, ignored numerous reminders from Amazon not to divulge confidential financial information or to illegally trade in the company’s securities based on what she knew about the company’s financial position — even after a former colleague pleaded guilty to insider trading in 2017, earning him six months in prison.</i> [1]<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.seattletimes.com&#x2F;business&#x2F;amazon&#x2F;feds-charge-seattle-area-amazon-employee-with-insider-trading&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.seattletimes.com&#x2F;business&#x2F;amazon&#x2F;feds-charge-sea...</a>
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