The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has indicted three people who illegally tipped and traded Equifax securities before the company disclosed a massive data breach. The charged individuals include Ann Dishinger, Lawrence Palmer and Jerrold Palmer.
Equifax, a provider of consumer credit scores announced in September that it had suffered a massive data breach between mid-May and July. Ahead of the disclosure, the company hired a public relations firm in August 2017 to help handle media requests related to the breach.
Ann Dishinger worked as a finance manager at the public relations firm contacted by Equifax. She learned of the Equifax breach and tapped her significant other Lawrence Palmer with non-public messages.
Palmer contacted a former client who arranged the purchase of out-of-the-money Equifax out options. There was an agreement that the client and Palmer would share the trading profits generated.
Palmer tipped off his brother and business partner Jerrold Palmer, who then contacted a high school friend who arranged the purchase of the same set of out-of-the-money Equifax put options.
Lawrence Palmer’s former client and Jerold Palmer’s friend made profits of about US$35,000 and US$73,000, respectively.
The sources for this piece include an article in Reuters.
