The Securities and Exchange Commission announced settled insider trading charges against Robert Hoddes Jacobs, a California resident, who repeatedly traded on material, nonpublic information that he obtained through his work as an investor relations consultant.

According to the SEC's complaint, Jacobs received information concerning the financial results of public companies as part of providing assistance with the preparation of their earnings releases. The SEC alleges that, between February 2016 and March 2018, ahead of eleven earnings announcements, Jacobs traded the companies' stock while in possession of the information. For example, as alleged in the complaint, in February 2018, the CFO of a public company e-mailed Jacobs the company's draft quarterly financial results, which contained nonpublic, positive information about the company's quarterly income. According to the complaint, Jacobs then purchased 23,500 shares of the company's stock before this information was released to the public. As alleged, Jacobs' trading ahead of the eleven earnings announcements resulted in total profits gained and losses avoided of more than $79,000.

The SEC's complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, alleges that Jacobs violated the antifraud provisions of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. Without admitting or denying the allegations in the complaint, Jacobs consented to the entry of a final judgment that enjoins him from violating the charged provisions, imposes a penalty of $157,095, and bars him from serving as a public company officer or director for five years. The settlement is subject to court approval.

The SEC's investigation was conducted by Christopher G. Margand and Ivan J. Snyder, with assistance from Dean M. Conway, Amy Longo, and Jan Folena, and was supervised by David Frohlich and Carolyn M. Welshhans. The SEC appreciates the assistance of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.