SEC Accuses Former Associates at Global Financial Institutions of Tipping Friends in “Serial” Insider Trading Scheme

On December 16, 2009, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against Vinayak Gowrish, a former associate at private equity firm TPG Capital L.P., formerly Texas Pacific Group.  The complaint accuses Gowrish of providing his friends with tips including confidential business information in a “serial insider trading scheme.”  The SEC alleges that the friends used the illegally communicated and obtained information to trade profitably in the stocks of companies engaged in mergers and acquisitions.  Gowrish’s friends – Adnan Zaman, a former vice president and investment banker at Lazard Freres & Co. LLC; Pascal S. Vaghar, who is currently unemployed; and Sameer N. Khoury, a mortgage broker – have settled with the SEC by collectively paying approximately $310,000 in disgorgement for their part in the purported scheme.  This article summarizes the SEC’s allegations in its civil suit against Gowrish, and details the terms of the SEC’s settlement with Zaman, Vaghar and Khoury.

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