TECH EXEC NABS $62K FOR SECRET DEAL! Insider Trading Exposed!

SEC v. Andre Wong — U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Litigation Release No. 26237, dated February 4, 2025.

The SEC charged Andre Wong, a former executive at Lumentum Holdings Inc., with insider trading. Wong allegedly used confidential information about Lumentum's planned acquisition of NeoPhotonics Corporation to purchase 10,000 shares of NeoPhotonics stock. He profited approximately $62,000 from this trade. Wong consented to a final judgment barring him from serving as an officer or director for five years and ordering him to disgorge his profits, pay prejudgment interest, and pay a civil penalty.

In Plain English

Imagine you work for a big company that's planning to buy a smaller company. You find out about this secret plan before anyone else. You then secretly buy a lot of stock in the smaller company. When the news comes out, the stock price goes up, and you sell your shares to make a quick profit. This is illegal because you used secret information to cheat the stock market. The SEC caught this person and made them pay back the illegal profits, plus interest and a fine, and banned them from being a company leader for a while.

Disclaimer: all facts are drawn from the SEC's own filings; the claims described are allegations unless and until a court rules or the parties settle, and some cases end in dismissal.

How the Alleged Scheme Worked

1. Learn Confidential Information Andre Wong, a vice president at Lumentum Holdings Inc., learned material nonpublic information about his employer's confidential plans to acquire NeoPhotonics Corporation from a colleague involved in the deal's due diligence.
2. Execute Illicit Trade On October 28, 2021, based on this inside information, Wong purchased 10,000 shares of NeoPhotonics stock. Prior to this, Wong had never traded NeoPhotonics securities.
3. Await Public Announcement Wong held onto the purchased shares until Lumentum's acquisition of NeoPhotonics was publicly announced on November 4, 2021.
4. Profit from Information Following the announcement, NeoPhotonics's stock price increased by approximately 39%. Wong's shares were then worth $62,500 more than his purchase price, generating illegal profits.
5. Concealment Efforts In 2022, when questioned by FBI agents about his NeoPhotonics trading, Wong denied awareness of Lumentum's acquisition plans and created false texts to hide a meeting with his colleague.

The Enforcement Action

On January 30, 2025, the SEC obtained a final consent judgment against Andre Wong. Wong was permanently enjoined from violating antifraud provisions, barred from serving as an officer or director for five years, ordered to disgorge $62,574 in illicit gains plus $12,924 in prejudgment interest, and to pay a civil penalty of $93,861.

Named in this action: Andre Wong.

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