Bolandian was convicted of six counts of insider trading by the jury. He is set to be sentenced on July 15 and could face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each count.
Last week, a California man from Brentwood, Los Angeles, was found guilty of insider trading by a federal jury in Los Angeles. Shahriyar Bolandian, aged 35, was involved in an insider trading scheme that resulted in over $650,000 in illegal profits.
Court documents and trial evidence revealed that between 2012 and 2013, the FBI revealed that Shahriyar Bolandian, a former analyst at J.P. Morgan Securities, along with two close associates, Ashish Aggarwal and Kevan Sadigh, were apprehended and subsequently accused in a federal grand jury indictment. The indictment claimed they were involved in an insider trading scheme that resulted in over $600,000 in illegal gains.
The SEC Enforcement Division’s Market Abuse Unit detected the insider trading through trading data analysis tools in its Analysis and Detection Center.
“We allege that Aggarwal, Bolandian, and Sadigh misused an investment bank’s confidential information for their personal benefit and victimized the bank, its clients, and investors,” said Robert A. Cohen, Acting Co-Chief of the SEC Enforcement Division’s Market Abuse Unit. “We will continue to proactively identify and combat serial insider trading schemes, particularly when it involves industry professionals.”
Bolandian received confidential information about two upcoming corporate acquisitions from his childhood friend, Ashish Aggarwal , who worked as an investment banking analyst at J.P. Morgan Securities LLC. Bolandian, sharing this information with Sadigh, they both used insider information to trade before the public announcements of Integrated Device Technology Inc.’s planned acquisition of PLX Technology Inc. in April 2012 and Salesforce.com Inc.’s acquisition of ExactTarget Inc. in June 2013.
It is alleged, Shahriyar Bolandian completed his undergraduate studies at Berkeley in 2010. In 2012 and 2013, the time frame mentioned in this Complaint, Bolandian worked for Greek Life Threads, an e-commerce business focusing on college fraternity and sorority apparel, which was established by Sadigh.
Aggarwal and Bolandian formed a close bond while studying at Berkeley. Despite being in different parts of California between 2012 and 2013, they kept in touch regularly through phone calls and text messages. They often spent weekends together and even went on vacations. Aggarwal, who worked in the investment banking sector at JPMS, used his corporate email to correspond with Bolandian, mentioning his role in "Technology, Media & Telecom/Investment Banking" at JPMS.
Bolandian also shared a deep-rooted friendship with Sadigh since childhood. During the same period, Bolandian worked for Sadigh's company, Greek Life Threads, in the greater Los Angeles area. As colleagues and friends, they communicated through various channels. Both Sadigh and Aggarwal were mutual friends of Bolandian, with Sadigh being aware of Aggarwal's investment banking background in San Francisco with connections to JPMorgan Chase.
Throughout this time, Bolandian and Sadigh were actively trading securities through brokerage accounts at TD Ameritrade, Interactive Brokers, OptionsHouse, and Interactive Brokers. Their trading activities involved numerous orders from February 2012 to June 2013. Records from these accounts show that neither Bolandian nor Sadigh traded in PLXT until April 2012, just before its acquisition by IDTI was announced. Similarly, they did not engage in trading ExactTarget until May 2013, right before its acquisition by CRM.
The indictment stated that Aggarwal, Bolandian, and Sadigh garnered over $600,000 in illegal profits through this scheme. Allegedly, the defendants utilized these gains to address prior trading losses and settle debts accrued by Aggarwal and Bolandian, among other purposes. Bolandian personally gained over $340,000 from these illegal trades, which he used to cover previous trading losses and repay loans to family and friends.
“Every professional with access to inside information has a duty and responsibility to protect that information so no one gains an unfair advantage in the securities markets,” said United States Attorney Eileen M. Decker. “Insider trading corrodes the integrity of the markets and undermines confidence among those who choose to trade. We will bring to justice anyone who illegally uses or shares confidential business information that can be used to manipulate the system.”
Bolandian was convicted of six counts of insider trading by the jury. He is set to be sentenced on July 15 and could face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each count. The sentence will be determined by a federal district court judge, who will take into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other relevant statutory factors.
The announcement of the conviction was made by Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada for the Central District of California, and Acting Assistant Director in Charge Mehtab Syed of the FBI Los Angeles Field Office
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