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Jason Peltz, 39, entered the plea in Brooklyn federal court to
two counts of insider trading and tax evasion a year after
initially pleading not guilty. He had been engaged in plea
negotiations with prosecutors since at least September 2021,
court records show.
"This office will vigorously prosecute traders who seek to cheat
the system, harm the investing public and undermine the
integrity of our financial markets," Breon Peace, the U.S.
Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a
statement.
Peltz also provided a tip about the takeover bid to a reporter,
who wrote an article about the offer that resulted in an
increase in Ferro's stock price, Peace's office said on Tuesday.
Prosecutors did not name the journalist or the media outlet, but
Reuters and other media have identified him as Ed Hammond, a
deals reporter with Bloomberg in New York, based on a review of
articles mentioned in Peltz's 2021 indictment. Hammond is not
accused of any wrongdoing.
"Ed Hammond is a very accomplished reporter," a Bloomberg News
spokesperson said in a statement. "We're not aware of any facts
to suggest any wrongdoing on his part."
The scheme ran from November 2015 to October 2020, according to
the indictment.
In a statement read to U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis in
court on Tuesday, Peltz said he purchased securities in Ferro
Corp based on information, obtained from a friend, that Ferro
had received a takeover offer. He said he knew trading off that
information was illegal.
Peltz is scheduled to be sentenced in July.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Howard Goller
and Neil Fullick)
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