Federal prosecutors charged a former employee at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. And Blackstone Inc. With securities fraud for allegedly tipping his friends to at least half a dozen deals.
The Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission said Thursday that Anthony Viggiano, 26, tipped two friends, Stephen Forlano and Christopher Salamone, to deals that Viggiano learned about at his employers.
“Viggiano betrayed the trust of his employers by tipping his friends,” Damian Williams, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement. “No matter how evasive insider traders’ conduct, or the lengths gone to hide their offenses, this Office will track down and prosecute those who attempt to cheat the system.”
The latest complaint marks at least the fifth incident involving a Goldman Sachs employee in recent years. Last year, a Goldman banker was accused of passing stock tips to a squash buddy. And that followed a trio of insider trading cases involving Goldman staffers through a span of 18 months ending in October 2019.
Viggiano worked at the asset and wealth management division of a major investment bank, according to the indictment, which people familiar with the case said was Goldman Sachs. He had previously resigned from a post at Blackstone, after the firm discovered he had been trading without pre-clearance.
“We make crystal clear to every employee through our extensive compliance and training procedures that we have absolutely zero tolerance for the behavior alleged, and we are fully cooperating with the authorities,” Matt Anderson, a Blackstone spokesman, said in a statement. “This individual was a junior analyst in a non-investment, finance function who was briefly employed for less than seven months and left two years ago.”
A spokesperson at Goldman Sachs didn’t immediately comment. Salamone pleaded guilty on Sept. 21 and is cooperating with prosecutors, the Justice Department said.
Neither the DOJ nor the SEC identified the firms where Viggiano worked in its complaint, and an SEC spokesman declined to comment about the firms’ identities.
The SEC alleged that Viggiano sent tips about upcoming deals involving companies including, American International Group Inc., Harmony Biosciences Holdings Inc., and CDK Global Inc., according to the SEC complaint. Forlano and Salamone allegedly traded on the tips, making hundreds of thousands of dollars in profits.
— With assistance by Jennifer Surane