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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

That’s No Way to Start a Hedge Fund

SEATTLE (CN) - Trying to rustle up enough money to start their own hedge fund, a Microsoft manager and crony made $393,000 from inside trading on information the Microsoft man "stole from his employer," the SEC claims in court.

The SEC sued Brian D. Jorgenson and Sean T. Stokke in Federal Court.

Federal prosecutors have filed parallel criminal charges, the SEC said in a statement.

Jorgenson, 32, of Lynwood, Wash., is a senior manager in Microsoft's Treasury Group. A chartered financial analyst for 8 years, he's worked at Microsoft since 2011.

Stokke, 28, of Seattle, is a business analyst for an aerospace firm, and worked on contract for Microsoft as a systems analyst for a month or two in 2012, according to the SEC complaint.

Jorgenson tipped Stokke to inside information about Microsoft that he got through his work in its finance and investments division, the SEC said, "the most recent occurring in October."

"After Stokke traded on the inside information that Jorgenson provided, the two equally split the illicit profits in their shared brokerage accounts," the SEC said in a statement. "They made joint trading decisions with the goal of generating enough profits to create their own hedge fund."

The men made $393,125 in ill-gotten swag from the scheme that began in April, according to the SEC.

It seeks an injunction, disgorgement and treble damages.

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