Former Federal Reserve Official Pleads Guilty to Insider Trading
A former official at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond recently pled guilty to insider trading. Robert Brian Thompson, 43, used confidential information from his job to make 69 trades in seven publicly traded financial institutions, totaling $771,678 between October 2020 and February 2024. Thompson, who worked as a bank examiner and senior manager with supervisory duties, had access to confidential information about the financial institutions under the Fed’s supervision.
To cover his tracks, Thompson lied on his “Form D,” where he was required to disclose assets, including any equity interest in banks that are members of the Federal Reserve system. The Department of Justice stated that Thompson falsely claimed he had no assets on the form.
Thompson has pleaded guilty to one count of insider trading and one count of making false statements. He is set to be sentenced on March 19 and could face up to 20 years in prison for insider trading and five years for false statements.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also filed a complaint against Thompson, accusing him of buying $678,000 worth of a bank’s stock just before a positive earnings announcement, leading to $79,346 in illicit profits. In another instance, Thompson used nonpublic information to make a profit of $505,527 by buying options on a bank’s stock before an earnings announcement revealing unexpected loan losses.
Thompson has reached a settlement with the SEC, agreeing to return his ill-gotten gains. The settlement is pending approval from a judge.
