HEAD OF TRADING BETS AGAINST OWN FIRM, POCKETS $217K!

SEC v. Ryan Squillante — U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Litigation Release No. 26388, dated September 5, 2025.

The SEC charged Ryan Squillante, a Head of Equity Trading at an investment firm, with insider trading. He allegedly used confidential information about upcoming securities offerings, obtained through his employment, to make profitable trades in his personal accounts. Squillante has settled the charges, agreeing to a permanent injunction and monetary relief to be determined by the court.

In Plain English

Imagine you work at a company that helps decide if big investment firms should buy new stocks being offered by other companies. Because of your job, you learn secret information about these stock offers before anyone else. This secret information is usually bad news for the stock's price. Instead of keeping the secret, you use it to bet that the stock price will go down, and you make money when it does. The SEC found out and is stopping you from doing this and wants you to pay back the money you made.

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. Obtain Confidential Information Ryan Squillante, working as Head of Equity Trading at an investment firm from May 2021 to December 2023, evaluated potential investments, including secondary offerings of securities. As part of this role, he was privy to material nonpublic information about upcoming offerings through a process called 'wall crossing'.
2. Understand Confidentiality During the 'wall crossing' process, Squillante received confidential and nonpublic information from underwriters about planned securities offerings. He understood that this information was sensitive and that he was not permitted to trade on it until it became public.
3. Violate Trading Restrictions Despite knowing he was not allowed to trade, Squillante used the material nonpublic information he obtained in his employment. He placed trades in his personal brokerage accounts on at least eleven separate occasions.
4. Execute Short Sales In these instances, Squillante sold short the stock of the companies about which he had obtained nonpublic information. This strategy aimed to profit from an anticipated decrease in the stock price, which he expected due to the negative impact of the undisclosed information.
5. Profit from Trades Through these illegal trades, Squillante earned approximately $216,965 in illicit trading profits. He gained an unfair advantage over other public market investors by exploiting his access to confidential information.

The Enforcement Action

On September 5, 2025, the SEC filed settled insider trading charges against Ryan Squillante. Squillante, who worked as Head of Equity Trading at an investment firm, allegedly used confidential information obtained during his employment to trade in the securities of at least ten companies, profiting approximately $216,965. Squillante consented to a judgment permanently enjoining him from violating Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. He also agreed to pay monetary relief, including disgorgement, to be determined by the Court. The SEC sought injunctive relief, disgorgement, and civil monetary penalties.

Named in this action: Ryan Squillante.

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