U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Litigation Release No. 23971 / October 25, 2017
Securities and Exchange Commission v. J. Patrick O'Neill and Robert H. Bray, No. 1:14-cv-13381-ADB (D. Mass. filed Aug. 18, 2014)
SEC Obtains Final Judgment Against Real Estate Developer Charged With Insider Trading
The Securities and Exchange Commission has obtained a final judgment against a Watertown, Mass.-based real estate developer charged with insider trading in the stock of Wainwright Bank & Trust Company.
The final judgment, entered on October 25, 2017 by the Honorable Allison D. Burroughs of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, permanently enjoins Robert H. Bray from violating Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder and orders him liable for disgorgement of $299,742, the payment of which is deemed satisfied by the order of forfeiture entered in the parallel criminal case against him.
On August 18, 2014, the SEC charged Bray and J. Patrick O'Neill, a former senior vice president at Eastern Bank Corp., with insider trading. The SEC alleged that O'Neill learned that Eastern Bank his employer was going to acquire Wainwright and he tipped Bray, a friend and fellow golfer with whom he socialized at a local country club. The complaint alleged that Bray liquidated shares in other stocks to free up funds he then used to purchase Wainwright securities. After the public announcement of the acquisition, Wainwright's stock price nearly doubled and Bray sold all of his shares during the next few months for nearly $300,000 in illicit profits.
O'Neill and Bray were both criminally charged in a parallel criminal case. O'Neill pled guilty in the criminal case and settled the SEC's charges. A jury found Bray guilty of insider trading. He was sentenced to two years in prison and ordered to forfeit the proceeds of his illegal trading and pay a $1 million criminal fine. On February 24, 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed the jury's guilty verdict. Bray failed to self-surrender as ordered, and an arrest warrant was issued. Bray was located and arrested in Puerto Rico on August 11, 2017, and he is currently in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons.