Guilty Plea in Extensive Insider Trading Scheme
A former analyst at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has pleaded guilty to insider trading charges in a wide-ranging scheme to get advance corporate information from a Merrill Lynch employee, printing plant workers and a grand juror.
Prosecutors say the plot generated $6.7 million in profits. Investigators told the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) that no other insider trading scheme had been as premeditated or widespread.
Eugene Plotkin pleaded guilty yesterday in a Manhattan federal court to conspiracy and eight counts of insider trading.
Prosecutors claim Plotkin, a former competitive ballroom dancer, plotted with a former co-worker to get advance information. The co-worker, David Pajcin, has pleaded guilty, according to the Journal.
The two men persuaded the Merrill Lynch analyst to pass on the information after meeting him at a Russian day spa, the New York Times reports. They also gained information from two men hired to work at a Business Week printing plant, and a postal worker serving on a grand jury.
Among those who executed trades for the pair was Pajcin’s girlfriend, an exotic dancer.
