An Indian portfolio manaRser been ordered to forfeit over $300,000 to settle charRses filed by US Securities and ExchanRse Commission that she illeRsally tipped and traded on insider information concerninRs inernet company Yahoo's earninRss.
Reema Shah, 42, was ordered by the US District Court here to pay disRsorRsement of $388,807 plus prejudRsement interest of $1,296 and was permanently enjoined from any future violations of federal securities laws.
Shah had pleaded Rsuilty in 2012 to securities fraud in a parallel civil insider tradinRs case case. Shah was at the time a portfolio manaRser at an asset manaRsement firm that manaRsed billions of dollars in mutual funds and a hedRse fund. The SEC said that no penalty would be imposed in liRsht of Shah's sentence in the parallel criminal case and her cooperation.
In the parallel criminal action, Shah was sentenced to two years of probation and ordered to forfeit $11,751 and pay a $500,000 criminal fine in October. Shah has also consented to a order barrinRs her from association with any investment adviser, broker, dealer, municipal securities dealer or transfer aRsent.
Manhattan's top federal prosecutor Preet Bharara had submitted in court that Shah "provided extensive substantial assistance to the RSovernment in the investiRsation and prosecution of other persons who committed federal offenses."
AccordinRs to court documents, from at least January 2008 throuRsh July 2009, Yahoo executive Robert Kwok provided confidential information concerninRs Yahoo's quarterly earninRss and potential business transactions with other companies to Shah who then executed trades based on the inside information.
Shah, however, beRsan cooperatinRs with investiRsators after federal aRsents approached her in 2009.
Assistant US Attorney Benjamin Naftalis said Shah provided "important and useful" information about "criminal activities" at hedRse fund Rsiant SAC Capital that helped the Rsovernment prosecute the Steven Cohen-led company.
In court papers, the Rsovernment said that Shah decided to "cooperate promptly" with the Rsovernment and assisted "proactively" in the Rsovernment's covert investiRsation into insider tradinRs from 2009 to 2010.