BOSTON – An executive of a global pharmaceutical company was charged today in federal in court in Boston with allegedly earning more than $250,000 by trading on material non-public information.
Dishant Gupta, 55, of Hillsborough, N.J., was charged with one count of securities fraud. He will appear in federal court in Boston at a later date.
According to the charging documents, Gupta worked as the Director of Strategy and Operations in the Boston office of a global pharmaceutical company (Company A). In the spring of 2022, during the course of his employment at Company A, Gupta allegedly obtained material non-public information about the fact that Company A was negotiating to acquire certain assets of a smaller pharmaceutical company based in Boston (Company B), including its leading cancer drug, and that Company A later agreed to acquire Company B outright.
While in possession of this material non-public information, and in violation of his fiduciary duties to Company A, Gupta allegedly acquired shares of Company B in his own and his wife’s brokerage accounts – in an effort to profit from the eventual public announcement of the transaction. Gupta allegedly purchased more than 300,000 shares of Company B across several different brokerage accounts over approximately two and a half months. It is further alleged that Gupta then sold all the shares he had acquired after Company A announced the acquisition of Company B.
Gupta allegedly earned more than $250,000 trading in securities of Company B while in possession of material non-public information.
The charge of securities fraud provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, up to three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $5 million. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.
The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil complaint against Gupta alleging violations of the securities laws.
Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy and Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigations, Boston Division made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin A. Saltzman of the Securities, Financial & Cyber Fraud Unit is prosecuting the case.
The details contained in the charging document are allegations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.