California Man Convicted in Insider Trading Scheme That Generated $7 Million in Illicit Profits
- Indian American Sivannarayana Barama of Fremont, worked as a contractor at Palo Alto Networks, a public company headquartered in Santa Clara, and listed on the NASDAQ exchange.
A federal jury has convicted Indian American Sivannarayana Barama of Fremont, California, of four counts of securities fraud “for using a publicly traded company’s confidential inside information about its financial performance to trade in the company’s securities,” the Department of Justice announced this week.
The 48-year-old, who worked as a contractor at Palo Alto Networks, and a co-defendant, were charged in December 2019 “with securities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud,” the DoJ said. While the co-defendant pleaded guilty plea to related charges, Barama proceeded to jury trial.
While at Palo Alto Networks, a public company headquartered in Santa Clara and listed on the NASDAQ exchange, Barama participated in an insider trading scheme. After learning “inside information about the quarterly financial performance of the company before that information was released to the public, he traded in that company’s stock while that information was still confidential.,” the DoJ said.
Barama was aided by an employee who worked in the company’s information technology department. He used the confidential information and trading instructions to purchase Palo Alto Networks stock options, and “ultimately made profits of $7.3 million on his options trades.”
Barama was acquitted of one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud. A sentencing hearing date hasn’t been announced yet. He currently remains free on bond.