Sandeep Aggarwal, a former tech analyst based in San Francisco, has pleaded guilty to insider trading charges, admitting that he passed on confidential information about a strategic partnership deal between Microsoft and Yahoo to a portfolio manager of SAC Capital Advisors.
“I knew what I was doing was wrong, and I am extremely sorry for my actions,” the 40-year-old Aggarwal told a Manhattan federal court on Friday. Because of his cooperation with the authorities leading to the plea agreement, Aggarwal could expect leniency for charges that otherwise could land one in prison for up to 25 years. The sentencing is set for May 14 next year.
Aggarwal, who hails from Gurgaon, was arrested in San Jose in July. At that time, US Attorney Preet Bharara had said that Aggarwal “leveraged his contacts in the technology industry to obtain an illegal edge in the form of inside information about a highly anticipated development, and then lied about his criminal conduct”.
“With his arrest today, we continue our work to investigate and prosecute privileged professionals who think the laws requiring honesty and fair play do not apply to them,” Bharara had said. In yet another stellar accomplishment for Bharara and his team, SAC Capital Advisors has separately pleaded guilty, accepting responsibility for insider trading by at least six of its employees over the past 10 years. The admission could cost the hedge fund, owned by billionaire Steven Cohen, a whopping $1.8 billion in civil and criminal penalties.
Aggarwal, in his guilty plea, told US Magistrate Judge Ronald l. Ellis that he passed on to SAC’s Richard lee in 2009 the tips that he had learned from a former colleague at Microsoft about the company’s plans to create a search engine advertising partnership with Yahoo. At that time, Aggarwal was working as a senior analyst at the San Francisco office of research firm Collins Stewart. He told the court that he provided inside information “to improve my standing as an analyst” and to boost his company’s revenues. lee, who sold Yahoo stock and booked substantial profits with the information obtained from Aggarwal, has separately pleaded guilty to insider trading charges.