SEC Charges Financial Services Professional and Associate in $47 Million Front-Running Scheme

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced fraud charges against Lawrence Billimek, an employee of a major asset management firm with securities portfolios worth billions of dollars, and Alan Williams, who previously worked at several financial industry firms, for perpetrating a multi-year front-running scheme that generated at least $47 million in illegal trading profits. The SEC’s complaint, filed in federal district court in Manhattan, alleges that, since at least September 2016, Billimek would inform Williams of the asset management firm’s market-moving trades prior to their execution. As the complaint alleges, on the same day, Williams would trade in the same securities prior to Billimek’s employer or while multiple large orders were being placed by the employer. Williams would close his positions after the price of the security moved as expected.