The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has wrapped up its case against a former U.S. banking regulator who admitted to insider trading in a couple of bank stocks.
A final consent judgment was entered against Robert Brian Thompson last week in the U.S. district court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Thompson, a former supervisor and examiner at the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, previously pleaded guilty to one count of insider trading and one count of making false statements to the Richmond Fed about his trading.
In November 2024, Thompson was charged by both the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ), and in a parallel civil proceeding by the SEC, with allegedly trading on insider information about a couple of bank stocks.
In one case, he allegedly bought a bank’s stock ahead of a positive earnings announcement. In another, he bought put options on a bank that was poised to announce unexpected loan losses.
According to the SEC’s complaint, Thompson allegedly generated almost US$600,000 in illicit trading profits from these transactions.
Now, the district court has entered a final consent judgment that required disgorgement of the ill-gotten gains, plus US$67,750 in prejudgment interest.
The disgorgement payment to the SEC was deemed satisfied by the entry of a forfeiture order against Thompson in the criminal case, which also saw him sentenced to 24 months in prison.