Former Equifax Executive Charged with Insider Trading

Litigation Release No. 24073 / March 22, 2018

Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jun Ying, 1:18-cv-01069-CAP ((N.D. Ga. Filed March 14, 2018)

Washington D.C., March 22, 2018 - This past week, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged a former chief information officer of a U.S. business unit of Equifax with insider trading in advance of the company's September 2017 announcement about a massive data breach that exposed the social security numbers and other personal information of about 148 million U.S. customers.

According to the SEC's complaint, Jun Ying, who was next in line to be the company's global CIO, allegedly used confidential information entrusted to him by the company to conclude that Equifax had suffered a serious breach.  The SEC alleges that before Equifax's public disclosure of the data breach, Ying exercised all of his vested Equifax stock options and then sold the shares, reaping proceeds of nearly $1 million.  According to the complaint, by selling before public disclosure of the data breach, Ying avoided more than $117,000 in losses.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia announced parallel criminal charges against Ying.

The SEC's complaint charges Ying with violating the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws and seeks disgorgement of ill-gotten gains plus interest, penalties, and injunctive relief.

The SEC's investigation, which is continuing, has been conducted by Elizabeth Skola and Justin Jeffries.  The litigation is being led by Shawn Murnahan and Graham Loomis.  The SEC appreciates the assistance of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.