Another former broker has been charged with insider trading based on information that was allegedly misappropriated from the laptop of an investment bank employee by her then-boyfriend, and passed along to a couple of brokers — who then allegedly traded on that information directly, and on behalf of their shared clients.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed charges against Ronald Smith, a former broker with Spartan Capital Securities LLC in New York, alleging that he generated over US$550,000 in illicit trading profits for his own accounts — and recommended trades to clients that made around US$5 million from the trading, and generated US$500,000 in trading commissions for the brokers.
According to the SEC’s complaint, Smith allegedly received inside information from a co-worker, Jordan Meadow — who had, in turn, received that confidential information from a friend, Steven Teixeira. Teixeira had obtained it from the laptop of his then-girlfriend, who worked as an executive assistant at an investment bank.
In that role, she had material information about the securities of several companies — including Domtar Corp., CDK Global, Inc., Score Media and Gaming, Inc., and VMWare, Inc. — including the pending acquisition of Score Media by Penn National Gaming and Broadcom Inc.’s planned takeover of VMWare.
Teixeira allegedly misappropriated information about the companies from his girlfriend’s computer, starting in late 2020 through May 2022, when it was left unattended in their apartment — and then shared that information with Meadow.
The SEC alleged that Smith and Meadow then traded on that information and used it with their shared clients, splitting the commissions generated by their illicit trading.
In a parallel criminal case, Smith was also charged with four counts of securities fraud, one count of wire fraud, two counts of conspiracy and a count of falsifying records, according to an indictment unsealed in a New York court.
The SEC previously filed insider trading charges against Meadow and Teixeira in June 2023. That proceeding is currently stayed, pending the outcome of a parallel criminal case against Meadow.
In November 2025, Meadow pleaded guilty to insider trading, obstruction, and fraud charges. He is due to be sentenced on May 16. Teixeira also previously pleaded guilty in a separate case.
None of the allegations against Smith have been proven, and he is presumed to be innocent of the criminal charges.
Smith and Meadow were both permanently banned by the U.S. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. (FINRA) in 2025 for refusing to cooperate with an investigation of the self-regulatory organization.