This week, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced a settlement against a former analyst at a hedge fund advisory firm. The individual was accused of being involved in inside trading by using nonpublic information about the government’s plans to reduce Medicare reimbursement rates. Jordan Fogel has agreed to cooperate with the SEC in its ongoing pursuit to bring other defendants to justice for their involvement in the insider trading scheme.
Fogel’s consent to cooperate and to judgment enjoins him from the alleged violation. Subsequently, the judgment allows the Court to decide whether or not Fogel will be responsible for repaying ill-gotten gains along with prejudgment interest and civil penalties. Ann Rosenfield, Patrick McCluskey, and Carolyn Walshhans with the Enforcement Division’s Market Abuse Unit were in charge of the SEC’s investigation.
Charges were brought against the defendants on May the 24th of 2017. David Blaszczak, a former government employee and now political intelligence consultant, acquired confidential information about the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services and their upcoming decision to cut Medicare reimbursement rates. The information was acquired from Blaszczak’s close friend, Christopher Worrall.
Worrall, who served as a health insurance specialist for the Center of Medicare, is alleged to have tipped off Mr. Blaszczak at least three times. In return, Blaszczak allegedly passed along that information to two analysts at a hedge fund advisory firm, which was paying him as a consultant. Those analysts, Jordan Fogel and Theodore Huber, used the information to trade in stocks for four healthcare companies that would likely be impacted by the announcement.
According to the SEC, the insider trading resulted in more than $3.9 million in profits. Subsequently, Blaszczak’s firms received at least $193,000 in payments during the 19-month period. Now, Fogel will cooperate with the SEC to help the agency litigate his former conspirators.