WASHINGTON – George Haywood, 69, of Washington, D.C., pleaded guilty these days to 1 count of insider buying and selling, declared U.S. Legal professional Matthew M. Graves and Wayne A. Jacobs, Distinctive Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Business Legal Division.
Haywood pleaded responsible in the U.S. District Courtroom for the District of Columbia. The Honorable Reggie B. Walton scheduled sentencing for Nov. 9, 2022.
“Insider buying and selling undermines faith in our economic marketplaces and harms normal investors who play by the rules,” reported U.S. Attorney Graves. “George Haywood placed himself over the regulation by using data to which he experienced privileged accessibility to cheat the sector and other buyers. Our Business office will continue to operate with our legislation enforcement associates to preserve the integrity of the economical marketplaces.”
“Mr. Haywood set himself and his very own fiscal interests higher than the rule of regulation,” mentioned Particular Agent in Demand Jacobs. “The FBI will not stand by even though people today attempt to abuse access to non-public facts. I’d like to thank these who investigated this case and who do the job every single working day to ensure folks are held accountable for harmful the integrity of our monetary markets.”
In accordance to courtroom files, Haywood is a District of Columbia-primarily based money expert services qualified who managed investments on behalf of his spouse and children and close friends. On Jan. 22, 2020, at roughly 9 a.m., Neurotrope, a clinical-phase biopharmaceutical enterprise (now acknowledged as Synaptogenix) declared that it was remaining awarded a $2.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health pursuing good medical trial effects for a medicine for the remedy of Alzheimer’s condition. This resulted in an increase of its stock selling price to a large of $3.85 per share.
Later that day, at about 12:50 p.m., Haywood spoke to a consultant of Neurotrope by phone. The particular person presented to share materials non-general public data relating to Neurotrope with Haywood so very long as Haywood agreed not to execute or endeavor to execute any stock trades with the data. Haywood agreed to obtain materials non-community facts, subject matter to these conditions. The agent then educated Haywood that Neurotrope would difficulty a registered direct providing later that day and invited him to participate in it. The offering was anticipated to trigger Neurotrope’s stock cost to drop.
Immediately following acquiring product non-community data, Haywood sold or tried to offer shares of Neurotrope worthy of around $328,701.16, even with owning agreed to get the information and facts, and not to execute or attempt to execute any inventory trade with it. Based on the every day closing price tag of $1.42 per share, Haywood prevented a decline of at the very least $179,297.18 on the sale of individuals shares between the time he gained the content non-public info, and the time the registered immediate providing was declared to the community.
The circumstance was investigated by the FBI’s Washington Industry Workplace and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Elizabeth Aloi and John Borchert.
A parallel civil enforcement continuing was filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Philadelphia Regional Business office, underneath the way of Norman P. Ostrove: https://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/2022/lr25440.htm
