Ranjan Mendonsa and Ammar Akbari Charged with Insider Trading
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced on October 1, 2015 that on September 28, 2015, the Honorable Haywood Gilliam of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California entered a final judgement against defendants Ranjan Mendonsa and Ammar Akbari. Mendonsa, Akbari, and two other defendents were charged with insider trading in Ross Stores securities. Information regarding the store’s securities was leaked by one of the retailer’s employees.
In the SEC’s complaint, it claims that defendant Saleem Khan was regularly tipped by his friend Roshanlal Chaganlal, a director in the finance department at Ross headquarters in Dublin, California. Khan supposedly used the confidential information to illegally trade ahead of the company’s public release of sales results. Khan also allegedly tipped his work colleagues, Mendonsa and Akbari, so they too could trade in Ross securities. The complaint further states that between August 2009 and December 2012, the insider trading ring spearheaded by Khan collected millions of dollars in illicit earnings.
Mendonsa and Akbari agreed to settle the charges against them without admitting or denying the SEC’s allegations, and they agreed to the entry of final judgment. The final judgment against Mendonsa dictates a permanent injunction against future violations of Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder, and orders Mendonsa to pay $614,375 in disgorgement, penalties, and prejudgment interest. The final judgment against Akbari orders him to pay $2,202 in disgorgement and prejudgment interest to the SEC.
The SEC’s litigation continues against the remaining two defendants, Khan and Chaganlal.
For further information about this securities law blog post, please contact Brenda Hamilton, Securities Attorney at 101 Plaza Real S, Suite 202 N, Boca Raton, Florida, (561) 416-8956, by email at [email protected] or visit www.securitieslawyer101.com. This securities law blog post is provided as a general informational service to clients and friends of Hamilton & Associates Law Group and should not be construed as, and does not constitute, legal and compliance advice on any specific matter, nor does this message create an attorney-client relationship. Please note that the prior results discussed herein do not guarantee similar outcomes.
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Brenda Hamilton, Securities Attorney
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