A Deloitte US tax partner and his wife have been charged by the
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for repeatedly leaking
confidential merger and acquisition information to family members
overseas in a multi million dollar insider trading scheme.
Arnold McClellan and his wife Annabel allegedly provided advance
notice of at least seven confidential acquisitions planned by
Deloitte’s clients to Annabel’s sister and brother-in-law in
London.
After receiving the illegal tips, the brother-in-law took
financial positions in US companies that were targets of
acquisitions by Arnold McClellan’s clients.
Their insider trading reaped illegal profits of approximately $3
million in US dollars, half of which was to be funnelled back to
Annabel McClellan, alleges the SEC.
The UK Financial Services Authority (FSA) has announced charges
against the two relatives James and Miranda Sanders, along with
colleagues with whom he worked.
“Deloitte and its clients entrusted Arnold McClellan with highly
confidential information. Along with his wife, he abused that trust
and used high-placed access to corporate secrets for the couple’s
own benefit and their family’s enrichment,” said Director of the
SEC’s San Francisco Regional Office, Marc J. Fagel.
The confidential impending transactions allegedly revealed by
McClellan include: Kronos, a Massachusetts-based data
collection and payroll software company acquired by a private
equity firm in 2007, aQuantive, a Seattle-based digital
advertising and marketing company acquired by Microsoft in 2007 and
Getty Images, a Seattle-based licenser of photographs and other
visual content acquired by a private equity firm in 2008.
