The Securities and Exchange Commission actually uses the term “romantic partner”, not girlfriend in this complaint. I guess the SEC doesn’t want to impose labels on the relationship. Based on this case, I assume the relationship is over. The COVID pandemic was hard on a lot of relationships with couples isolated at home. Stealing information from your “romantic partner” seems likely to end the relationship.
That’s just what Steven Teixeira did. While working at home during the pandemic, Teixeira would access her laptop while she was out of the room or outside their Queens apartment.
She was an executive assistant at an investment bank. She was responsible for scheduling meetings of the investment bank’s valuation and fairness committees concerning potential transactions involving the investment bank’s clients. She had access to material nonpublic information relating to dozens of the investment bank’s transactions.
Teixeira had a friend who knew a guy who was a stock trader, Jordan Meadow. The three met and Teixeira offered up his access to the information to Meadow. The three plotted an insider trading scheme, with Meadow offering to buy Teixeira and the third friend Rolex watches. Teixeira and Meadows began trading on the flow of transaction information that Teixeira was snooping from his romantic partner’s laptop.
Their aggressive trading caught the attention of the regulators and Meadow’s compliance department. The scheme came to an end in January 2023 when the romantic partner returned to working in the office rather than from home.
Teixeira pled guilty in a cooperation agreement. The DOJ and SEC are pursuing more serious charges against Meadow.
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