Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that DIMITRY BRAVERMAN, a former senior information systems engineer at a prominent national law firm, was sentenced to 24 months in prison for insider trading. Specifically, BRAVERMAN repeatedly used material nonpublic information concerning planned merger and acquisition activity of at least eight clients of the law firm to acquire stocks and options, resulting in profits of more than $300,000. BRAVERMAN was originally charged in September 2014, and he was sentenced today by the Honorable Paul A. Engelmayer, United States District Judge. U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said: “Taking advantage of confidential, market-moving information that he got from his work at a major law firm, Dimitry Braverman made more than $300,000 in ill-gotten gains. Braverman’s sentencing today concludes yet another illegal insider trading scheme brought to light by the efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Securities and Exchange Commission, working closely with securities prosecutors in my office.”

According to the Information, other documents filed in Manhattan federal court, and statements made during court proceedings:

From at least in or about September 2010 through December 2013, BRAVERMAN was engaged in an insider trading scheme. BRAVERMAN, who was a senior information systems engineer at a national, full-service law firm, had access to financial and billing databases of the firm, including information about, among other things, the law firm’s clients’ potential merger and acquisition activity, as well as information about the identities of the other parties to the potential deals.

Between about 2010 and 2011, BRAVERMAN engaged in at least four trades that were based on inside information concerning potential mergers and acquisition activity of clients of the law firm. In April 2011, however, BRAVERMAN closed out the last of these trades on the same day that another employee of the law firm, Matthew Kluger, was arrested on separate insider trading charges. In November 2012, BRAVERMAN opened a new brokerage account in the name of a relative living in Russia, and continued trading on the basis of inside information he obtained from the law firm. Specifically, between November 2012 and December 2013, BRAVERMAN engaged in at least four additional trades based on inside information. In total, BRAVERMAN made more than approximately $300,000 in profits from the trades between 2010 and December 2013.

* * *

BRAVERMAN, 42, of San Mateo, California, pled guilty to one count of securities fraud on November 13, 2014. BRAVERMAN was also sentenced to two years of supervised release, with 100 hours of community service.

Mr. Bharara praised the work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and thanked the Securities and Exchange Commission for its assistance.

The charges were brought in connection with the President’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. The task force was established to wage an aggressive, coordinated and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. With more than 20 federal agencies, 94 U.S. attorneys’ offices, and state and local partners, it’s the broadest coalition of law enforcement, investigatory and regulatory agencies ever assembled to combat fraud. Since its formation, the task force has made great strides in facilitating increased investigation and prosecution of financial crimes; enhancing coordination and cooperation among federal, state and local authorities; addressing discrimination in the lending and financial markets; and conducting outreach to the public, victims, financial institutions and other organizations. Since fiscal year 2009, the Justice Department has filed over 18,000 financial fraud cases against more than 25,000 defendants. For more information on the task force, please visit www.StopFraud.gov.