Current:Home > ScamsA work-from-home tip: Don’t buy stocks after eavesdropping on your spouse’s business calls-LoTradeCoin
A work-from-home tip: Don’t buy stocks after eavesdropping on your spouse’s business calls
View Date:2024-12-23 22:28:58
HOUSTON (AP) — A word to the wise: If you overhear your work-from-home spouse talking business, just forget anything you may learn from it. And most definitely do not trade stocks using what authorities will almost certainly view as inside information.
Tyler Loudon, a 42-year-old Houston man, learned this lesson the hard way. He pleaded guilty Thursday to securities fraud for buying and selling stocks based on details gleaned from his wife’s business conversations while both were working from home. He made $1.7 million in profits from the deal, but has agreed to forfeit those gains.
Things might have turned out differently had Loudon or his wife decided to work from, well, the office.
Loudon’s wife worked as a mergers and acquisition manager at the London-based oil and gas conglomerate BP. So when Loudon overheard details of a BP plan to acquire a truck stop and travel center company based in Ohio, he smelled profit. He bought more than 46,000 shares of the truck stop company before the merger was announced in February 2023, at which point the stock soared almost 71%, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Loudon then allegedly sold the stock immediately for a gain of $1.76 million. His spouse was unaware of his activity, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas.
Loudon will be sentenced on May 17, when he faces up to five years in federal prison and a possible fine of up to $250,000, according to the U.S. attorney’s office. He may also owe a fine in addition to other penalties in order to resolve a separate and still pending civil case brought by the SEC.
veryGood! (841)
Related
- Gisele Bündchen Makes First Major Appearance Since Pregnancy
- Methane Hunters: What Explains the Surge in the Potent Greenhouse Gas?
- A Complete Timeline of Kim Zolciak and Kroy Biermann's Messy Split and Surprising Reconciliation
- Mission: Impossible's Hayley Atwell Slams “Invasive” Tom Cruise Romance Rumors
- Jennifer Lopez Turns Wicked Premiere Into Family Outing With 16-Year-Old Emme
- Project Runway All Stars' Johnathan Kayne Knows That Hard Work Pays Off
- The Colorado River Compact Turns 100 Years Old. Is It Still Working?
- Leading experts warn of a risk of extinction from AI
- Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has a long record of promoting anti-vaccine views
- Text scams, crypto crackdown, and an economist to remember
Ranking
- 2 Florida women charged after shooting death of photographer is livestreamed
- It’s Showtime! Here’s the First Look at Jenna Ortega’s Beetlejuice 2 Character
- UBS finishes takeover of Credit Suisse in deal meant to stem global financial turmoil
- YouTube will no longer take down false claims about U.S. elections
- Why was Jalen Ramsey traded? Dolphins CB facing former team on 'Monday Night Football'
- How ending affirmative action changed California
- Inside the Legendary Style of Grease, Including Olivia Newton-John's Favorite Look
- Bradley Cooper Gets Candid About His Hope for His and Irina Shayk’s Daughter Lea
Recommendation
-
2 more escaped monkeys recaptured and enjoying peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in South Carolina
-
The Fed decides to wait and see
-
Study Finds that Mississippi River Basin Could be in an ‘Extreme Heat Belt’ in 30 Years
-
In a Strange Twist, Missing Teen Rudy Farias Was Home With His Mom Amid 8-Year Search
-
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has a long record of promoting anti-vaccine views
-
Boeing finds new problems with Starliner space capsule and delays first crewed launch
-
Hollywood writers still going strong, a month after strike began
-
Reddit CEO Steve Huffman: 'It's time we grow up and behave like an adult company'