The Securities and Exchange Commission charged a former finance manager at Amazon.com, Inc. and two family members with insider trading in advance of Amazon earnings announcements between January 2016 and July 2018.

According to the SEC's complaint, Laksha Bohra worked as a senior manager in Amazon's tax department, where she prepared and reviewed calculations used to finalize numbers included in Amazon's quarterly and annual earnings that were filed with the SEC. Beginning in January 2016 and continuing through July 2018, Laksha Bohra allegedly acquired, and tipped her husband Viky Bohra with, highly confidential information about Amazon's financial performance. The complaint alleges that Viky Bohra and his father, Gotham Bohra, traded on this confidential information in eleven separate accounts maintained by different members of the Bohra family. The complaint further alleges that Laksha Bohra disregarded quarterly reminders prohibiting her from passing material nonpublic information or recommending the purchase or sale of Amazon securities. As alleged, the family reaped illicit profits of approximately $1.4 million from their unlawful trading in Amazon securities.

The SEC's complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, charges Laksha Bohra, Viky Bohra, and Gotham Bohra with violating Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. All three Bohras have consented to the entry of final judgments permanently enjoining them from further violations of the charged provisions, and ordering them to pay total disgorgement of $1,428,094, total prejudgment interest of $118,406, and total penalties of $1,106,399.

In a parallel action, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Washington filed criminal charges against Viky Bohra.

The SEC's investigation was conducted by Sallie Kim, with assistance from Marc Katz and Andrew Hefty, under the supervision of Monique C. Winkler of the San Francisco Regional Office. Darren Boerner of the Market Abuse Unit also assisted the investigation. The SEC appreciates the assistance of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Washington and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.