Life tip: Insider trading edition

So, if you find yourself standing in the middle of Grand Central Station eating Post-It notes in order to destroy evidence, I have a life tip for you.  Something has gone terribly wrong and you should reconsider what you're doing.

That bit of million dollar advice alas comes a little too late for three characters involved in the latest insider trading shenanigans to be uncovered by the SEC.  As alleged by the SEC:

The SEC alleges that Vladimir Eydelman and Steven Metro were linked through a mutual friend who acted as a middleman in the illegal trading scheme.  Metro, who works at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett in New York, obtained material nonpublic information about corporate clients involved in pending deals by accessing confidential documents in the law firm’s computer system.  Metro typically tipped the middleman during in-person meetings at a New York City coffee shop, and the middleman later met Eydelman, who was his stockbroker, near the clock and information booth in Grand Central Terminal.  The middleman tipped Eydelman, who was a registered representative at Oppenheimer and is now at Morgan Stanley, by showing him a post-it note or napkin with the relevant ticker symbol.  After the middleman chewed up and sometimes even ate the note or napkin, Eydelman went on to use the illicit tip to illegally trade on his own behalf as well as for family members, the middleman, and other customers.  The middleman allocated a portion of his profits for eventual payment back to Metro in exchange for the inside information.  Metro also personally traded in advance of at least two deals. 

Here's the civil complaint and then the criminal complaint.

-bjmq