By listening to his wife work from home, a Texas man made nearly $1.8 million in profits on the stock market.
Now he pleaded guilty to insider trading.
The wife worked for the energy giant BP from 2022 on the takeover of a chain of service stations. Her husband, who was also working from home a few meters away, noticed a lot of it. He began buying shares in the truck stop operator in December 2022, the US Securities and Exchange Commission said in its statement of claim filed on Thursday.
As of February 15th, he held over 46,000 securities worth around $1.82 million. The next day, BP announced the takeover at a price of $86 per share – and the stock price jumped from $49.94 to $84.43. The husband then sold all of his shares, making a profit of $1.76 million, according to the SEC. He didn’t tell his wife about it.
Around a month later, however, the woman noticed that financial market supervisors were interested in employees involved in the deal. After she told her husband, he confessed to his stock dealings, according to the lawsuit. The woman informed BP about this and filed for divorce a few months later. According to court documents, the man faces up to five years in prison.
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX)
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