I was just reading through the FBI press release on the guilty plea of Rochdale Securities trader David Miller for wire fraud after he put on a huge unauthorized position in Apple shares ahead of Q3 earnings.
“This defendant participated in a fraudulent scheme in which he would either reap huge profits through the unauthorized purchase of approximately $1 billion of Apple stock or, if he faced huge losses, explain it away as simple human error,” stated U.S. Attorney Fein. “This scheme caused catastrophic losses for his former employer and was unraveled promptly by the FBI.”
The only reason he got caught was because share prices dropped following earnings. If it had jumped, he would be sipping martinis with a fat bank account.
Sentencing is in July and he faces a maximum of 25 years but I suspect it will be much less.