INSIDER TRADES ON ANIMAL STOCK! $111K GAINED FROM SECRET MERGER TIP!

SEC v. Trijya Vakil, Neeraj Visen — U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Litigation Release No. 26348, dated July 11, 2025.

The SEC charged Trijya Vakil, a former Senior Director at Elanco Animal Health, and her friend Neeraj Visen with insider trading. Vakil learned of Elanco's impending acquisition of Kindred Biosciences while working on due diligence and traded on this nonpublic information. She also tipped Visen, who also traded, resulting in ill-gotten gains for both.

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. It's like knowing a surprise party is happening before the guest of honor. If you buy stock in the smaller company because you know it's about to be bought (and its stock price will go up), that's insider trading. It's not fair to others who don't have that secret information. In this case, one person who knew the secret bought stock, and then told a friend who also bought stock, and both made money unfairly.

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. Access to Secret Information Trijya Vakil, a Senior Director at Elanco Animal Health, was assigned to a due diligence team for Elanco's potential acquisition of Kindred Biosciences, Inc. This assignment, beginning around April 16, 2021, gave her access to material nonpublic information about the impending deal.
2. First Trade On May 12, 2021, Vakil violated her duties to Elanco by purchasing 500 shares of Kindred stock. She made this purchase while in possession of the confidential information about the acquisition.
3. Profit from First Trade When the acquisition was publicly announced, Kindred's stock price increased by approximately 46%. Vakil realized ill-gotten gains of $2,447.50 from her trade.
4. Tipping a Friend Vakil also shared the confidential acquisition information with her friend, Neeraj Visen. On June 15, 2021, she specifically told Visen that the acquisition was expected to be announced within the next day or two.
5. Second Trade Acting on the tip from Vakil, Visen purchased 38,000 shares of Kindred stock on June 15, 2021, the day before the public announcement.
6. Profit from Second Trade Following the acquisition announcement on June 16, 2021, Kindred's stock price rose by about 46%. Visen profited from his trade, obtaining ill-gotten gains of $109,437.

The Enforcement Action

The SEC filed insider trading charges against Trijya Vakil and Neeraj Visen. Both defendants have consented to the entry of judgments against them, including injunctions from future violations. Monetary relief, if any, is to be determined by the Court. Vakil and Visen also pleaded guilty to criminal charges in parallel actions.

Named in this action: Trijya Vakil, Neeraj Visen.

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