Hingham Man Admits to Securities Fraud

BOSTON – A 45-year-old Hingham man, who was a vice president for a Boston-based asset management firm, agreed to plead guilty on Monday to federal security fraud charges in a scheme that made him more than $1.9 million in profits.

Kevin Amell, 45, of Hingham, agreed in U S. District Cour to plead guilty to one count of securities fraud.

The U.S. Attorney's Office alleges that from December 2014 to February 2017, Amell used the funds he managed to sell options to, and occasionally buy options from, his personal brokerage accounts.

Specifically, given his position as the vice president and options portfolio manager, Amell had access to the options markets and could see the buy and sell orders for a particular option at a particular time.

As a result, Amell could see the “spread” -- the price buyers were willing to pay for the option and the price at which sellers were willing to sell the option -- at any given time. Amell defrauded his firm and the funds managed by the firm, by buying options at prices below the price at which other market participants were willing to sell at that point in time.

Amell then sold the options he had purchased from the funds at higher prices, thereby profiting at the expense of the funds he managed.

On occasion, Amell also purchased options at a lower price and then immediately sold them to the funds at a higher price.

Amell allegedly carried out the scheme by placing orders in his personal brokerage accounts to buy specific options at a specific price and, within seconds, placed orders on behalf of the funds to sell the same options at the same price.

By controlling the prices and the timing of the sales in this way, he guaranteed that he could buy the options himself and make a profit.

Amell made more than $1.9 million on the scheme

. It is further alleged that, to conceal the fraud from his employer, Amell failed to disclose to the firm the existence of his personal brokerage accounts as required.