Long Island Financial Advisor Charged in Insider Trading Conspiracy

A criminal indictment was unsealed today in federal court in Brooklyn charging Damian Perna, a financial advisor from Oceanside, Long Island, with conspiracy to commit insider trading. Perna is charged with conspiring with others to trade in securities of publicly traded corporations registered under the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 during the period from June 2011 through October 2012

The defendant was arrested this morning and was arraigned earlier this afternoon before United States Magistrate Judge Ramon E. Reyes, at the United States Courthouse, 225 Cadman Plaza East in Brooklyn, New York. As the government explained during the arraignment, Perna obtained draft earnings reports for publicly traded companies before their public release through a contact at an investor relations firm. These companies included Consolidated Graphics, Alamo Group, and Miller Industries, which are listed on the New York Stock Exchange; and Innophos Holdings, Inc., which is listed on the NASDAQ. In one meeting, Perna sold an advance copy of an earnings report to an undercover agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and was paid $7,000 in cash.

The charges were announced by Loretta E. Lynch, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and George Venizelos, Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office.

If convicted, the defendant faces a statutory maximum sentence of years’ imprisonment.

The charges in the indictment are merely allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

This case was brought in coordination with President Barack Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. President Obama established the interagency task force to wage an aggressive, coordinated, and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. The task force includes representatives from a broad range of federal agencies, regulatory authorities, inspectors general, and state and local law enforcement who, working together, bring to bear a powerful array of criminal and civil enforcement resources. The task force is working to improve efforts across the federal executive branch and, with state and local partners, to investigate and prosecute significant financial crimes, ensure just and effective punishment for those who perpetrate financial crimes, combat discrimination in the lending and financial markets, and recover proceeds for victims of financial crimes. For more information on the task force, please visit www.stopfraud.gov.

The government’s case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Cristina M. Posa and Ilene Jaroslaw.

Defendant
Damian Perna
Age: 30