SEC, DOJ Charge Biostatistician with Insider Trading Based on Nonpublic Information on Cancer-Treating Drugs

NJ Pharma Consultant Hit With SEC, DOJ Insider Trading Charges

A biostatistician in New Jersey who consulted for pharmaceutical companies used insider information to buy stock before positive drug trial results were announced, netting nearly $500,000 in profits, federal prosecutors said.

Hong Wang and his company Precision Clinical Consulting LLC violated federal securities laws by trading on material nonpublic information, according to a complaint the Securities and Exchange Commission filed Wednesday in the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

Wang worked as a consultant for Watertown, Mass.-based C4 Therapeutics Inc. from June 2023 to June 2024, analyzing clinical trial data for a cancer drug….

Republican confronted over alleged insider trading in Elon Musk’s Grok

A Republican representative has denied reports she could have used insider information to purchase stocks in Elon Musk’s company xAI days before the Department of Defense announced plans to use its products in government systems.

Michigan Republican Lisa McClain’s husband purchased between $100,001 and $250,000 in private stocks of xAI on December 15, according to disclosures made in a periodic transaction report and reviewed by Newsweek. xAI is Musk’s company that developed the AI assistant Grok.

McClain told NewsNation the purchase was a “private offering,” and that she was “100 percent” sure it was not based on insider information. “Because if it was, we wouldn’t have bought 100,000 shares, we would’ve bought a heck of a lot more,” she said.

Tricolor’s Bondholders Sue Trustee for Missing Alleged Fraud

Investors in bonds from Tricolor Holdings, a used car dealer and subprime lender that collapsed last year amid allegations of fraud, sued Wilmington Trust NA, the trustee for the securities, alleging the firm failed in key bond supervision duties.

The bondholders filed the suit in New York state court Tuesday. The filing came the same day that Tricolor founder Daniel Chu and former Chief Operating Officer David Goodgame pleaded not guilty to charges that they conspired to defraud lenders and investors.

The discovery last year of the alleged widespread fraud inside Tricolor’s book of subprime auto loans instantly sparked questions about how it had gone undetected. In asset backed securities like the ones Tricolor sold, investors largely rely on outside parties to perform key oversight and accounting roles in connection with underlying collateral.

“Wilmington utterly failed to fulfill this most-fundamental of tasks,” bondholders say in the lawsuit. “It instead allowed rampant double-pledging of loans and delivery of fictitious collateral that should have been uncovered if somebody at Wilmington bothered to verify delivery and custody of the original loan documents.”

Bitcoin price climbs past $97,000 as investors seek haven assets

What to know:

— Bitcoin extended gains during U.S. market hours, briefly pushing past $97,000. — Equities tied to the crypto asset were also higher, with Strategy adding more than 8% on Wednesday.

— A criminal investigation into Fed Chair Jerome Powell caused investors to lean into haven assets, including gold, silver and bitcoin.

SFO Arrests Six in £300 Million Fraud Probe Linked to Home REIT Collapse

The UK’s Serious Fraud Office said it arrested six people over suspected offenses totaling about £300 million ($404 million) linked to the “chaotic downfall” of social housing firm Home REIT Plc.

The arrests, carried out at homes in London and northwest England, follow concerns raised in a late-2022 investor report, the SFO said in a statement Wednesday. Italian financial crime authorities also swooped on a house in Venice as part of the probe, the SFO added.

Home REIT listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2020 and raised more than £850 million in its first three years, according to the SFO. The company told investors the funds would be used to buy and refurbish properties to house vulnerable people, including rough sleepers and military veterans.

But trading in the shares was suspended in January 2023, soon after the report cited concerns about the valuation of the company’s properties and the ability of its tenants to pay rent, the SFO said.