SEC Charges Accountant and Friend in $6.2 Million Insider Trading Scheme

The Securities and Exchange Commission today filed insider trading charges against an accountant and her friend, whom she illegally tipped with confidential information in advance of her company’s quarterly performance announcements in exchange for all-expense paid travel and other expensive gifts. The alleged insider trading scheme generated profits of more than $6.2 million and was uncovered by the SEC through analysis and technology that it uses to detect suspicious trading activity. The SEC’s complaint, filed in federal court in Manhattan, alleges that Martha Patricia Bustos, formerly an accountant at Illumina Inc. and a certified public accountant, and her close friend Donald Blakstad engaged in a scheme to trade in advance of Illumina’s release of confidential revenue information.