A former Wall Street analyst pleaded guilty to insider trading charges along with the college friend he tipped to pending merger deals.
In a New York district court, Anthony Viggiano, a former analyst with Goldman Sachs and Blackstone, and college friend Stephen Forlano Jr. pleaded guilty to one count of securities fraud in connection with an insider trading scheme that used confidential information Viggiano obtained at work.
U.S. authorities alleged that Viggiano received inside information about potential acquisitions and strategic partnerships involving publicly traded companies, and that he tipped his friends and traded on that information ahead of at least eight different transactions using short-dated, out-of-the-money call options.
“Anthony Viggiano was placed in trusted positions by not one, but two leading global financial institutions. Viggiano broke that trust repeatedly, illegally tipping Stephen Forlano, Jr., with material, confidential information,” said Damian Williams, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, in a release.
Previously, a childhood friend of Viggiano’s, Christopher Salamone, also pleaded guilty for his role in the scheme.
U.S. authorities alleged that Viggiano and Salamone split more than US$300,000 in illicit trading profits. Forlano allegedly generated at least US$100,000 from the scheme, while also passing the tips along to other friends and family through, among other means, a video game console’s audio chat function.
In a parallel action, the trio has also been charged by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which said the case originated with its Market Abuse Unit’s Analysis and Detection Center that uses data analysis tools to detect suspicious trading patterns.