US charges S&P analyst, two others with insider trading
NEW YORK: The US government on Tuesday criminally charged a Standard & Poor’s credit ratings analyst and two friends, all from Manhattan, with insider trading related to Sherwin-Williams Co’s US$9.3 billion purchase of Valspar Corp.
According to prosecutors, the analyst Sebastian Pinto-Thomaz, 32, tipped Abell Oujaddou and Jeremy Millul in early March 2016 about the impending transaction between the two paint makers, after learning about it in confidential memos at work.
Oujaddou, 55, who runs an upscale Manhattan hair salon, and Millul, 31, who manages a jewelry boutique in Manhattan’s Diamond District, allegedly made about US$300,000 of illegal profit by buying Valspar shares and options, and selling them after the merger was announced on March 20, 2016.
Prosecutors also said that after the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority began examining trades in Valspar that occurred before the announcement, PintoThomaz lied to S&P by denying he knew Oujaddou and Millul.
Sherwin-Williams, which is based in Cleveland, agreed to buy Valspar for US$113 per share, 35 per cent above where it traded before the all-cash merger was announced. Shares of Valspar rose about 23 per cent on the next trading day.
S&P spokesman John Piecuch said Pinto-Thomaz has been suspended, and that the unit of S&P Global Inc is cooperating with authorities.
“We hold our employees to the highest standards of honesty and integrity and take adherence to our compliance policies very seriously,” Piecuch said in a statement. — Reuters