Former GOP Rep. Stephen Purchaser charged with insider buying and selling by federal prosecutors, SEC

WASHINGTON — Former Indiana Rep. Stephen Purchaser was arrested Monday on federal insider buying and selling prices, because the Securities and Change Fee introduced a parallel civil criticism in opposition to the Republican for a similar conduct.

The prison and civil actions each allege that Purchaser used a number of funding accounts owned or co-owned by his spouse, a former mistress, his son and his cousin for inventory transactions he executed after acquiring nonpublic data whereas working as a advisor for 2 completely different firms after leaving Congress in 2011.

Purchaser additionally allegedly engaged in elaborate schemes to cowl up the supply of his data, based on the prison indictment issued in opposition to him by a grand jury in U.S. District Court docket in Manhattan. That indictment prices him with 4 counts of securities fraud.

Purchaser served in Congress from 1993 to 2011, representing Indiana’s 4th Congressional District, beforehand numbered as its fifth.

Prosecutors mentioned that in 2018 and 2019 Purchaser purchased greater than $1.5 million value of inventory in Dash and Navigant Consulting based mostly on insider data he acquired whereas doing consulting work.

He later bought the shares after the knowledge grew to become public, prosecutors allege.

Within the Dash scheme, prosecutors mentioned Purchaser used 4 completely different accounts to purchase greater than 112,000 Dash shares in a single week in 2018. He bought the shares in August of that yr, after information of Dash’s merger with T-Cellular grew to become public, for a revenue of greater than $126,000, based on the indictment.

In 2019, he allegedly purchased greater than 16,000 shares of Navigant utilizing a number of accounts, after which bought practically all of them on the identical day, after information grew to become public that Navigant can be acquired by Guidehouse, authorities mentioned. The Navigant inventory sale netted roughly $223,000 in revenue.

Purchaser allegedly unfold the inventory purchases in each firms throughout seven completely different accounts.

They included two separate Particular person Retirement Accounts belonging to him alone; an funding account belonging to his spouse; a joint account Purchaser owned along with his spouse; a joint account Purchaser shared along with his son; and a joint account Purchaser shared along with his cousin. Purchaser additionally used a seventh account, owned by a girl recognized solely as “Pal-1,” as a part of the schemes.

Purchaser started a romantic relationship with the unidentified Pal-1 in 2006, based on the SEC criticism.

In 2018, Purchaser used the lady’s IRA account to buy greater than $12,000 value of inventory in Dash, that criticism mentioned.

A yr later, he used the lady’s account once more to purchase $22,000 of inventory in Navigant, shortly earlier than each firms have been acquired by Purchaser’s consulting shoppers, based on the SEC.

In his effort to cowl up the schemes, Purchaser allegedly used analyst report printouts and phony notes in an effort to persuade investigators that his inventory purchases have been knowledgeable solely by publicly out there market analysis, based on authorities.

“When insiders like Purchaser — an lawyer, a former prosecutor, and a retired Congressman — monetize their entry to materials, nonpublic data, as alleged on this case, they not solely violate the federal securities legal guidelines, but additionally undermine public belief and confidence within the equity of our markets,” mentioned SEC Enforcement Division Director Gurbir Grewal in an announcement.

Purchaser’s lawyer, Andrew Goldstein of Cooley LLP, informed CNBC in an announcement, “Congressman Purchaser is harmless.”

“His inventory trades have been lawful. He appears to be like ahead to being rapidly vindicated,” Goldstein mentioned.