A former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. compliance employee settled an SEC complaint Wednesday that accused him of using confidential data from emails for trades in at least four takeover targets.
Yeu Han, a Chinese citizen also known as John Han, disgorged about $903,000 in trading profits.
The SEC filed the insider trading charges against Han in federal court in Manhattan in November 2015.
He traded in his own accounts and an account belonging to his father, Wei Han, who lived in China.
The SEC obtained an emergency court order in early December to freeze the accounts.
Han made more than $468,000 in profits in his own accounts and about $434,000 in profits in his father’s account.
Han left the United States for Shanghai in October 2015, the SEC said. He represented himself in the case.
He consented to the court’s entry of the final order without admitting or denying the SEC’s allegations.
As part of the settlement, Han’s father gave up any claims to assets in accounts the SEC froze last year.
In a parallel administrative proceeding, the SEC banned Han from associating with any broker, dealer, investment adviser, municipal securities dealer, municipal advisor, transfer agent, or nationally recognized statistical rating organization. He’s also barred from participating in any offering of penny stock.
Judge Valerie Caproni entered a final order Wednesday.
Goldman Sachs had hired Han to work with the compliance group to develop surveillance software to monitor other employees and detect illegal behavior, including insider trading.
As part of his work, Han had access to emails that contained confidential non-public information about mergers and acquisitions.
He traded in securities of at least four companies on the brink of being acquired, the SEC said. The companies included Yodlee Inc., Zulily Inc., Rentrak Corp., and KLA-Tencor Corp.
The SEC seized his trading accounts at Fidelity Brokerage Services, Scottrade, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo Bank, and his father’s account at Scottrade.
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Richard L. Cassin is the publisher and editor of the FCPA Blog. He can be contacted here.
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