Ryan Squillante, 40, of Weston, pleaded guilty to securities fraud. He illegally made over $220,000 using a short sale scheme and faces up to 20 years in prison.
Credit: AP
HARTFORD, Conn. — A Weston man has admitted to committing insider trading, according to a release Friday from the Interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut.
Ryan Squillante, 40, waived his right to be indicted and pleaded guilty to securities fraud in Hartford federal court.
The insider trading offense that illegally netted Squillante $220,912 could land him in prison for up to two decades, prosecutors said.
Court documents and statements revealed that Squillante worked from home while he was employed as Head of Equity Trading at Irving Investors, an investment company that is headquartered in Denver, Colo.
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Due to his position with Irving Investors, Squillante was given "material non-public information" (MNPI) regarding several publicly traded companies.
Prosecutors said that at least 15 times between August 2022 and May 2023, Squillante used MNPI for his own benefit by making transactions in securities of these companies, which enabled him to make the $220,912 profit.
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For example, prosecutors note that in February 2023, Squillante received MNPI about Praxis Precision Medicines, Inc., which is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company whose common stock traded on the NASDAQ.
Between Feb. 27 and March 2, 2023, Squillante reportedly “sold short” 38,086 shares of Praxis at an average price of about $3.04 per share.
On March 3, Praxis announced poor results from its drug trial because the drug’s effects did not reach its primary endpoint with statistical significance. This announcement was made before the market opened that morning.
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After hearing the announcement, Squillante “covered” his short sale by purchasing 38,086 Praxis shares at an average price per share of about $1.82, which allowed him to make a $46,421 profit as a result.
After pleading guilty to the securities fraud in Hartford, Squillante will be sentenced on Aug. 29.
The case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with help from the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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Dalton Zbierski is a digital content producer and writer at FOX61 News. He can be reached at [email protected].
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