3 men including an officer face insider trading charges

BOSTON (AP) — Three men, including a Massachusetts police officer, were arrested Wednesday for allegedly conspiring to trade shares of a company based on inside information, federal prosecutors in Boston said.

David Forte, 58, of Acton; John Younis, 59, of Bristol, Rhode Island; and Gregory Manning, 59, of Needham, are each charged with conspiracy to commit securities fraud, said a statement from the office of U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts, Rachael Rollins.

An email seeking comment was left with attorneys for all three.

Prosecutors allege that in June 2016, Forte obtained nonpublic information from a close relative who is a senior executive at Analog Devices, Inc., a Norwood-based semiconductor company, about a planned acquisition of Linear Technology Corp., a semiconductor company in Milpitas, California.

Forte, an officer with the Needham Police Department, allegedly passed that information to Manning and Younis, who then purchased shares of Linear stock in advance of the public announcement of the acquisition on July 26, 2016, prosecutors said.

Younis also purchased call options — a bet that the price of a stock will increase prior to the expiration of the option — and tipped a business associate to purchase Linear shares as well, prosecutors alleged.

After the deal was announced, Manning, Younis and Younis’ associate allegedly sold their Linear securities at a profit, and Manning paid Forte a kickback for giving him the tip, prosecutors said.

The defendants are scheduled to appear in federal court in Boston on Wednesday afternoon.

They face a maximum of five years in prison if convicted.

Inmate wants permission