6 Indian Americans Charged With Securities Fraud

Six Indian Americans are among 9 persons charged with securities fraud in 4 separate insider trading cases, allegedly making millions of dollars from illegal securities trading based on stolen information.

The 4 cases involve a former politician, a former member of law enforcement, California-based technology company executives, and a New York-based investment banker, US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced July 25.

Amit Bhardwaj, 49, Srinivasa Kakkera, 47, and Abbas Saeedi, 47, all California residents, have been arrested and face 20 years in prison on various counts for their roles in an insider trading scheme.

Two others, Dhirenkumar Patel and Ramesh Chitor, separately pled guilty and are cooperating with the Govt in this case, according to a press release.

In another case, Brijesh Goel, 37, an investment banker in the financing group at a major international investment bank in New York, has also been charged with 4 counts of securities fraud and 1 count of obstruction of justice. The case has been assigned to US District Judge P. Kevin Castel.

From November to April 2020, Bhardwaj, who was the chief information security officer of Lumentum Holdings Inc, traded on company information himself and tipped his criminal associates, including Kakkera, Saeedi, Patel, and Chitor, regarding two separate potential acquisitions by Lumentum, Coherent, Inc. and Neophotonics Corporation.