Long Island City Man Accused Of Insider Trading

LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS — The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has charged a Long Island City man with insider trading after federal investigators said he and colleagues used nonpublic information to make $1 million from dealing in the securities of a chemical manufacturer.

According to the SEC's complaint, Jason Peltz traded on inside information about a private equity firm's offer to buy the chemical manufacturer Ferro Corp. in 2016, then tipped off others to trade Ferro securities before news of the potential acquisition went public.

A judge on Dec. 21 ordered Peltz released on $100,000 bond, according to court records.

Peltz's attorney did not immediately return a call or email requesting comment.

Seven brokerage accounts linked to Peltz and others, identified only as co-conspirators in court filings, started buying Ferro stock several days after a February board meeting that included discussions of the takeover bid.

Among Ferro's board of directors was an unnamed co-conspirator who had a close relationship with Peltz, the complaint says; Peltz called and texted that person and the person's spouse "dozens of times" in the two weeks following the board meeting.

Meanwhile, Peltz used brokerage accounts held in the names of other people, including the account of a British Virgin Islands company, to buy up Ferro stock.

On March 15, 2016, Bloomberg News reported that Ferro had received a takeover approach from Apollo Global Management.

At the end of the day, the closing price of Ferro stock was about 4.7 percent higher than it had been the day before, according to the complaint filed earlier this month in Brooklyn federal court.

Peltz sold off his Ferro securities after the announcement.