NEW YORK—Donald Johnson, a former executive at the Nasdaq Stock Market, pleaded guilty on Thursday to engaging in insider trading using confidential information privy to him during his tenure.
Johnson, 56, admitted being guilty on one charge of securities fraud in a court in Virginia, for insider trading during his work with Nasdaq’s Market Intelligence business, between 2006 and 2009.
“Mr. Johnson was a fox in a hen-house,” said Assistant Attorney General Breuer in a statement. “NASDAQ-listed companies entrusted him with their sensitive, nonpublic information so that he could provide them with analyses about their stock. He then used that very information to cheat the system and make an illegal profit.”
Johnson was a managing director at the firm, and admitted to making a profit of $640,000 from the illicit trades he made, which were done from his work computer at Nasdaq.
According to court documents, one of the trades, which he engaged in, was on shares of United Therapeutics Corp., on insider information he was privy to about drug test results on Viveta.
“He thought he could get away with it by using his wife’s account and inside information to make relatively small trades just a few times a year,” said United States Attorney Neil H. MacBride. “But he learned what every other trader on Wall Street must now realize: We’re watching.”
Johnson is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 12. The maximum prison term for insider trading in the United States is 20 years and a fine of $5 million.
Johnson, 56, admitted being guilty on one charge of securities fraud in a court in Virginia, for insider trading during his work with Nasdaq’s Market Intelligence business, between 2006 and 2009.
“Mr. Johnson was a fox in a hen-house,” said Assistant Attorney General Breuer in a statement. “NASDAQ-listed companies entrusted him with their sensitive, nonpublic information so that he could provide them with analyses about their stock. He then used that very information to cheat the system and make an illegal profit.”
Johnson was a managing director at the firm, and admitted to making a profit of $640,000 from the illicit trades he made, which were done from his work computer at Nasdaq.
According to court documents, one of the trades, which he engaged in, was on shares of United Therapeutics Corp., on insider information he was privy to about drug test results on Viveta.
“He thought he could get away with it by using his wife’s account and inside information to make relatively small trades just a few times a year,” said United States Attorney Neil H. MacBride. “But he learned what every other trader on Wall Street must now realize: We’re watching.”
Johnson is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 12. The maximum prison term for insider trading in the United States is 20 years and a fine of $5 million.
