WASHINGTON (CN) - The SEC claims an attorney who was a partner at Ernst & Young tipped a friend to inside information about acquisitions that the friend and others used to make $600,000 in illegal inside trades.
The SEC claims James E. Gansman, an attorney and then a partner in Ernst & Young's transaction advisory services, tipped his friend Donna Murdoch to seven acquisition targets that sought services from Ernst & Young. Murdoch allegedly traded on the information, and tipped off her father, who also traded on it, and tipped two others who did likewise.
Murdoch allegedly netted $392,035 in illegal profits. Her father, Gerald L. Brodsky, alleged got $63,400. The other two people whom Murdoch tipped made $140,760 from their illegal trades, the SEC says in its federal claim.
Gansman, 48, a member of the New York State Bar, resigned from Ernst & Young in October 2007.
Murdoch, 46, of Malvern, Pa., is and was then a registered securities representative, the SEC says.
Brodsky, 71, of Narberth, Pa., is retired. He pleaded guilty to an unrelated charge of securities fraud in 1993, the SEC says.
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