A Flushing man was arrested on Monday, Sept. 21, for allegedly perpetrating an insider trading scheme that resulted in nearly $1 million in profits, the acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Seth DuCharme announced on Monday.
According to the charges, Yinghang Yang, 27, and a co-conspirator used nonpublic information stolen from their employers to make a series of securities transactions from April 2019 until October 2019.
“It’s a plain and simple fact — those who base trading decisions on proprietary information they shouldn’t have access to are not only engaging in unfair business practices, they’re breaking the law. As we allege, Yinghang Yang did just that,” said FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William Sweeney.
In April of last year, Yang, who worked at a company that specializes in financial information and analytics, and his co-conspirator, began using information within their company to inform their personal trades on the stock market, according to the feds.
From April until October, the pair generated more than $900,000 in profits through the allegedly illegal trades, according to the charges. A portion of the funds were transferred into three bank accounts in Yang’s name, the charges state. Yang allegedly used the money for personal expenses, including credit card payments, student loan payments and trading activity in Yang’s own brokerage account.
Yang will make his initial appearance in court in front of U.S. Magistrate Judge Roanne Mann on Tuesday, Sept. 22. If convicted, Yang faces up to 20 years in prison.
