Tag: misappropriation theory
Professor Coffee tackles the “shadow trading” theory
Here is a great article—no surprise considering its author, Columbia Law Professor John Coffee—that practically gives the last rites to the “shadow trading” theory recently accepted by a federal district court (see this PubCo post) and a jury (see this PubCo post) in SEC v. Panuwat. If, that is, the theory ever reaches the Supreme Court. In Panuwat, the jury in a federal district court in California determined that Matthew Panuwat was civilly liable for insider trading on a set of highly unusual facts under the misappropriation theory—misappropriation of confidential information used to trade in securities in breach of a duty to the source of the information. According to Coffee, prior to Panuwat, cases involving the misappropriation theory “seem to have involved conduct by the defendant that caused ‘likely harm’ to the shareholders of the source of the information.” But not so in Panuwat. Rather than a fiduciary obligation, he suggests, perhaps the duty that Panuwat breached was really a contractual duty owed to his employer? And, in that case, should the SEC be the party enforcing it? His arguments may be highly controversial—certainly the SEC would disagree—but thought-provoking nonetheless and definitely worth a read.
The jury finds shadow trading is a thing
The trial took eight days. The jury took two hours. On Friday, in the case of SEC v. Panuwat, the jury in a federal district court in California determined that Matthew Panuwat was civilly liable for insider trading under the misappropriation theory. This case dates back to August 2021, when the SEC filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court charging Panuwat, a former employee of Medivation Inc., an oncology-focused biopharma, with insider trading in advance of Medivation’s announcement that it would be acquired by a big pharma company, Pfizer. As you know by now, this case has often been viewed as highly unusual: Panuwat didn’t trade in shares of Medivation or shares of the acquiror, nor did he tip anyone about the transaction. No, the SEC’s novel—but winning—theory of the case was that Panuwat engaged in “shadow trading,” using the information about the acquisition of his employer to purchase call options on Incyte Corporation, another biopharma that the SEC claimed was comparable to Medivation, based on an assumption that the acquisition of Medivation at a healthy premium would probably boost the share price of Incyte. Panuwat made over $120,000 in profit. According to a statement from the Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, Gurbir S. Grewal, “[a]s we’ve said all along, there was nothing novel about this matter, and the jury agreed: this was insider trading, pure and simple. Defendant used highly confidential information about an impending announcement of the acquisition of biopharmaceutical company Medivation, Inc., the company where he worked, by Pfizer Inc. to trade ahead of the news for his own enrichment. Rather than buying the securities of Medivation, however, Panuwat used his employer’s confidential information to acquire a large stake in call options of another comparable public company, Incyte Corporation, whose share price increased materially on the important news.”
District Court views “shadow trading” to be within the “misappropriation” standard of §10(b)
In August 2021, the SEC filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court charging Matthew Panuwat, a former employee of Medivation Inc., an oncology-focused biopharma, with insider trading in advance of Medivation’s announcement that it would be acquired by a big pharma company, Pfizer. As you know by now, this case has often been viewed as highly unusual: Panuwat didn’t trade in shares of Medivation or shares of the acquiror, nor did he tip anyone about the transaction. No, the SEC’s novel theory of the case was that Panuwat engaged in “shadow trading”; he allegedly used the information about the acquisition of his employer to purchase call options on Incyte Corporation, another biopharma that the SEC claimed was comparable to Medivation, based on an assumption that the acquisition of Medivation at a healthy premium would probably boost the share price of Incyte. Panuwat made over $100,000 in profit. The SEC charged that he violated Rule 10b-5 and sought an injunction and civil penalties. (See this PubCo post.) After losing a motion to dismiss, this past September, Panuwat moved for summary judgment, claiming that this was the wrong case to test out the novel shadow-trading theory: “Incyte and Medivation were fundamentally different companies with no economic or business connection, Medivation’s policies did not prohibit Mr. Panuwat’s investment, and Mr. Panuwat’s reasons for making the investment were entirely separate from the Medivation sale process and consistent with his prior investment practices.” The SEC responded that Panuwat’s “actions fit squarely within the misappropriation theory of insider trading” and that his “actions provide strong evidence of his scienter.” The District Court for the Northern District of California has just rendered its decision. Did the Court take issue with the SEC’s application of this novel theory of shadow trading? Not so much. Indeed, the Court appears to treat the case as just another version of “misappropriation” of material nonpublic information. According to the Court, the SEC showed that there were “genuine disputes of material fact concerning (i) whether Panuwat received nonpublic information, (ii) whether that information was material to Incyte, (iii) whether Panuwat breached his duty to Medivation by using its confidential information to personally benefit himself, and (iv) whether Panuwat acted with scienter.” Accordingly, the Court denied Panuwat’s motion for summary judgment. In its Order, the Court reminded the parties to schedule a settlement conference. Will the parties settle? Or will this case go to trial?
Will the SEC’s shadow trading theory fall to SCOTUS’s major questions doctrine?
In August 2021, the SEC filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court charging Matthew Panuwat, a former employee of Medivation Inc., an oncology-focused biopharma, with insider trading in advance of Medivation’s announcement that it would be acquired by a big pharma company. But it wasn’t your average run-of-the-mill insider trading case. Panuwat didn’t trade in shares of Medivation or shares of the acquiror, nor did he tip anyone about the transaction. No, according to the SEC, he engaged in what has been referred to as “shadow trading”; he used the information about his employer’s acquisition to purchase call options on another biopharma, which the SEC claimed was comparable to Medivation. (See this PubCo post.) Since then, we’ve seen the usual moves on the chess board (discussed briefly below). But what’s particularly interesting, as Alison Frankel pointed out in Reuters, is the amicus brief filed by the Investor Choice Advocates Network, a self-described “nonprofit, public interest organization focused on expanding access to markets by underrepresented investors and entrepreneurs.” In its brief, ICAN contended that the SEC’s invocation of the novel “shadow-trading” theory made this a “major questions” case—a judicial torpedo that we might begin to see fired with some regularity.
SEC’s “shadow trading” case survives motion to dismiss
In August last year, the SEC announced that it had filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court charging Matthew Panuwat, a former employee of Medivation Inc., an oncology-focused biopharma, with insider trading in advance of Medivation’s announcement that it would be acquired by a big pharma company. But this isn’t your run-of-the-mill insider trading case. Panuwat didn’t trade in shares of Medivation or shares of the acquiror, nor did he tip anyone about the transaction. No, according to the SEC, he engaged in what has been referred to as “shadow trading”; he used the information about his employer’s acquisition to purchase call options on a separate biopharma company, Incyte Corporation, which the SEC claimed was comparable to Medivation. According to the SEC, Panuwat made that purchase based on an assumption that the acquisition of Medivation at a healthy premium would probably boost the share price of Incyte. Incyte’s stock price increased after the sale of Medivation was announced. The SEC charged that Panuwat committed fraud against Medivation in connection with the purchase or sale of securities, with scienter, in violation of Rule 10b-5; he had, the SEC charged, breached his “duty to refrain from using Medivation’s proprietary information for his own personal gain” and traded ahead of the announcement. The SEC sought an injunction and civil penalties. (See this PubCo post.) In November, Panuwat filed a motion to dismiss the complaint under Rule 12(b)(6), calling it “an unprecedented expansion” of the Exchange Act. Last week, the Court denied the motion.
Is this insider trading?
On Tuesday, the SEC announced that it had filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court charging a former employee of Medivation Inc., an oncology-focused biopharma, with insider trading in advance of Medivation’s announcement that it would be acquired by a big pharma company. But it’s not what you might think. The employee didn’t trade in shares of Medivation or shares of the acquiror, nor did he tip anyone about the transaction. No, according to the SEC, he used the information about his employer’s acquisition to purchase call options on a separate biopharma company, Incyte Corporation, which the SEC claims was comparable to Medivation. According to the SEC, the employee made that purchase based on an assumption that the acquisition of Medivation at a healthy premium would probably boost the share price of Incyte. Incyte’s stock price increased after the sale of Medivation was announced. The SEC charged that the employee breached his “duty to refrain from using Medivation’s proprietary information for his own personal gain” and traded ahead of the announcement, in violation of Rule 10b-5. Will the SEC succeed or is the factual basis of the charge just too attenuated?
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