Seth Markin stumbled across a sure thing for investing his money. Pandion Therapeutics was going to be acquired by Merck & Co. He knew the acquisition price per share was going to be over twice what the shares were currently trading. He made $82,000 in trading profits in February 2021.
In June 2021 he got a phone call from his ex-girlfriend. (I have to assume it was a very angry phone call.) Mr. Markin’s name had shown up on an inquiry from by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. His ex-girlfriend was a lawyer working on the Pandion-Merck transaction. FINRA had asked her whether she knew any of the names on a list of people who bought Pandion stock leading up to the transaction announcement.
She, FINRA, the SEC, and the DOJ all assume that Mr. Markin had come across the transaction information while they were dating. He lied to her and told her that he had not traded in Pandion stock. (I don’t think they got back together.)
At this time, Mr. Markin was training as a new agent at the FBI Academy. He was interviewed the FBI agents about the Pandion trading, and Mr. Markin lied to them. (I don’t think he kept the job at the FBI.)
Clearly the FBI didn’t believe him. He was arrested in July 2022. Earlier this week he plead guilty to securities fraud based on that insider trading. Now He’s facing jail time.
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