Former Qualcomm executive sentenced to three-year term for insider trading
27 Jun 2015
A former high-ranking executive at semiconductor maker Qualcomm Inc was yesterday sentenced to a year and a half in prison and fined $500,000 for masterminding an insider trading scheme.
The US Department of Justice said Jing Wang, formerly Qualcomm's president of global business operations, made hundreds of thousands of dollars in illicit profits from buying shares of Qualcomm on the basis of knowledge gained in his elevated position.
The 52-year old former executive from Del Mar, California, had, last year, pleaded guilty to charges of insider trading, money laundering and obstruction of justice in connection with his scheme.
The justice department said, Wang admitted to three separate insider trades using a brokerage account in the British Virgin Islands.
In early 2010, Wang bought about $277,000 worth of Qualcomm stock, with prior knowledge that the company planned to hike its dividend and repurchase stock and in December the same year, he bought stock of chipmaker Atheros knowing that Qualcomm planned to make an offer to purchase the company.
He told his stockbroker a few weeks later to sell the Atheros stock and purchase Qualcomm stock, just one day before the company announced record earnings.
According to San Diego federal prosecutors Wang would serve 18 months in prison and pay $500,000 in fines for insider trading.
According to prosecutors, Wang and his stockbroker blame the trades on Wang's brother, who lives in China. The brother is wanted under an international warrant for his role in the scheme.