SEC & DOJ Charge Bristol-Myers Squibb Exec with Insider Trading

The SEC charged Robert D. Ramnarine, an executive at Bristol-Myers Squibb, with insider trading on confidential information about companies being targeted for potential acquisitions. The SEC alleges that Ramnarine made more than $300,000 in illegal profits by misusing nonpublic information he obtained while helping Bristol-Myers Squibb evaluate whether to acquire three other pharmaceutical companies. The SEC is seeking a court order to freeze Ramnarine’s brokerage account assets. In a parallel criminal action, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey announced the arrest of Ramnarine.

According to the SEC’s complaint, Ramnarine, an executive in the treasury department at Bristol-Myers Squibb, conducted his insider trading schemes from August 2010 to July 2012, illegally trading in stock options of Pharmasset Inc., Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc., and ZymoGenetics Inc. in advance of announcements that those companies would be acquired.