SEC Announces Insider Trading Charges against an IT Guy (with Lofchie Comment)

The SEC has announced insider trading charges against a former systems administrator at Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, and his friend. The SEC alleges that the systems administrator used his position to access pending press releases and the email accounts of other employees to cull material nonpublic information.

Lofchie Comment: For corporate issuers, this case emphasizes the importance of considering which employees and services providers have access to inside information and what constitutes effective controls. Persons with access to internal computer systems may know quite a bit about corporate events, or learn about such events, even when they are not directly involved.

See: SEC Litigation Release.