The Securities and Exchange Commission has obtained final judgments against Roberto Rodriguez, Jeffrey Rogiers, Rodolfo Sablon, Michael Siva, and Jhonatan Zoquier, five defendants the agency charged in 2017 with engaging in a wide-reaching insider trading scheme. The SEC also barred Siva from the securities industry. In 2017 and 2018, the Commission obtained partial final judgments against Daniel Rivas and James Moodhe, the remaining defendants in the case, and barred Rivas and Moodhe from the securities industry.

According to the SEC's complaint, filed August 16, 2017, Rivas, a former IT employee of a large bank, was at the center of the alleged scheme, misusing his access to a bank computer system to tip Moodhe, Rodriguez, Sablon, and Zoquier, who traded on the information.  In addition, Zoquier tipped Rogiers, who traded on the information. According to the complaint, the defendants generated millions of dollars in combined profits by trading on market-moving news relating to a total of 30 impending corporate deals from October 2014 to April 2017. In 2017 and 2018, each of the seven defendants named in the SEC's complaint pleaded guilty to related criminal charges.

The final judgments against Rodriguez, Rogiers, Sablon, Siva, and Zoquier, entered on September 23, 2019 by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, enjoin each of them from violating Sections 10(b) and 14(e) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rules 10b-5 and 14e-3 thereunder. The final judgments also order each defendant to disgorge their respective insider trading profits but deem disgorgement satisfied by the orders of forfeiture entered in the parallel criminal matter. The partial final judgments against Rivas and Moodhe, entered, respectively, on December 19, 2017 and March 19, 2018 by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, enjoin each of them from violating Sections 10(b) and 14(e) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rules 10b-5 and 14e-3 thereunder.

The SEC appreciates the assistance of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.