BOSTON, Mass.- Federal prosecutors in Boston have charged 30 individuals in a decade-long insider trading case involving stolen confidential merger-and-acquisition information, including a potential iRobot deal.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts alleges that corporate attorneys, traders, and financial intermediaries obtained material non-public information (MNPI) from major law firms involved in high-value corporate transactions, including a Massachusetts-based firm. Prosecutors say the information was improperly accessed from internal systems and then distributed through a coordinated network of traders and middlemen.
Nineteen defendants were arrested Wednesday and are expected to appear in federal courts in multiple locations, including Massachusetts, New York, California, and Florida. Two additional defendants, located in Russia and Israel, are considered fugitives.
Authorities allege the scheme involved trading ahead of nearly 30 mergers and acquisitions over the past decade, with profits generated through coordinated securities trades and a system of kickbacks and layered financial transfers intended to conceal the movement of funds.
In one example cited by prosecutors, a lawyer allegedly accessed confidential materials related to a potential iRobot acquisition in June 2022 while not assigned to the matter. Traders then allegedly purchased iRobot securities shortly afterward while in possession of the non-public information.
Federal authorities say the operation relied on encrypted messaging applications, burner phones, coded language, and offshore financial channels to avoid detection.
Officials from the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the FBI in Boston described the case as a significant international insider trading network that undermined market integrity and breached professional duties. The investigation remains ongoing.
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