Some traders illegally purchased shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and RIM (Research In Motion Limited (NASDAQ:RIMM) (TSE:RIM)) after they were tipped about some secret information including iPhone and BlackBerry sales. The information was leaked by a former AT&T employee, reports Reuters.
A 57 year old, Alnoor Ebrahim who worked as a consultant for an expert-network firm and was also an employee of AT&T, pleaded guilty to sharing sensitive information regarding the two big tech companies.
Below is what Ebrahim told the U.S. District Judge:
“I provided insider information concerning AT&T’s sales of Apple’s iPhone and RIM’s (Research In Motion Ltd) Blackberry products, as well as other handset set devices sold through AT&T distribution channels.”
After knowing about the matter, AT&T spokesman Marty Richtman said:
“We took this matter very seriously and cooperated fully with the authorities. The conduct alleged was clearly against our code of business conduct, and Mr. Ebrahim is no longer an AT&T employee.”
We have been following the news of ‘insider trading crackdown’ quite closely and we recently reported about a biggest crack down by the U.S. government in which a federal jury convicted ex Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) director Rajat Kumar Gupta of insider trading; that case also included the sharing of information about Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and other technology companies.
