FED BANK SUPERVISOR CAUGHT TRADING ON INSIDE SECRETS!

SEC v. Robert Brian Thompson — U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Litigation Release No. 26356, dated July 21, 2025.

A former Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond supervisor, Robert Brian Thompson, has been ordered to pay disgorgement and interest for insider trading. Thompson used non-public information about two banks under his supervision to trade stocks and options, profiting illegally. His penalties were satisfied by a forfeiture order in a parallel criminal case where he was sentenced to prison.

In Plain English

Imagine someone who works at the bank that watches over other banks. This person learned secret, important news about two of those banks before anyone else. For one bank, they found out it was going to announce great news, so they bought a lot of its stock right before the announcement. For the other bank, they learned it would announce bad news about money it lost, so they bet that the stock price would go down. They made money by using this secret information, which is like cheating. Now, they have to pay back all the money they made unfairly, and they also went to jail for it.

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 Confidential Information Robert Brian Thompson, a supervisor at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, gained access to material nonpublic information about banks under his oversight. This included upcoming earnings announcements.
2. Trading on Positive News In October 2023, Thompson learned about a positive upcoming earnings announcement for a bank in his portfolio. Hours before the announcement, he used this information to purchase $678,000 worth of the bank's stock.
3. Trading on Negative News In January 2024, Thompson discovered that another bank he supervised would report significant losses, specifically hundreds of millions of dollars in unexpected loan losses. This information was also non-public.
4. Profiting from Negative News Two days before this bank's earnings announcement, Thompson used the non-public information about the impending losses to buy thousands of put options on the bank's stock, betting on a price decrease.
5. Illicit Profits Realized These unlawful trades resulted in Thompson obtaining ill-gotten profits totaling $584,873.

The Enforcement Action

On July 18, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia entered a final consent judgment against Robert Brian Thompson. Thompson was charged by the SEC with insider trading in violation of Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. The final judgment permanently enjoins Thompson from violating these provisions. Thompson agreed to pay disgorgement of $584,873 and prejudgment interest of $67,750. This payment was deemed satisfied by a forfeiture order entered in a parallel criminal proceeding, United States v. Thompson, 3:24-cr-00164-MHL (E.D. Va.), in which Thompson pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 24 months in prison.

Named in this action: Robert Brian Thompson.

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