A former employee of a publicly traded company based in Pasadena has reached an agreement to plead guilty in a case involving insider trading.
The Justice Department disclosed that Marco Antonio Perez, aged 59, also known as "Marc Perez," from Glendora, is facing charges of insider trading, a felony that carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years.
The charges against Perez and his plea agreement were filed today in the United States District Court. Perez is scheduled to make his initial appearance in the case on October 5.
According to the plea agreement, Perez was employed by General Finance Corp., a Pasadena-based storage and modular space company, where he served as an accounting manager reporting to the company's chief financial officer.
He also handled tasks for the company's chairman, including printing out the chairman's emails. Consequently, Perez had access to sensitive information related to General Finance, including undisclosed offers to acquire the company, prior to their public release.
In violation of his fiduciary duties to General Finance and its shareholders, and in defiance of the company's policy against insider trading, between March and April 2021, Perez purchased a total of 66,585 shares of General Finance stock.
He later sold these shares for a total of $1,262,815.
Perez bought the General Finance stock after reading confidential emails sent to the company's chairman in early 2021, which discussed the impending sale of General Finance at a per-share price ranging from $19 to $20. Perez acquired these shares at prices between $10 and $12 each.
General Finance was eventually acquired by United Rentals Inc., based in Stamford, Connecticut.
On April 15, 2021, United Rentals issued a press release announcing its acquisition of General Finance for $19 per share. Before this announcement, General Finance's share price closed at $12.17. Following the announcement, General Finance's share price skyrocketed from $12.17 to $19 per share.
Within two weeks of the acquisition announcement, Perez sold all 66,585 shares he had purchased based on inside information, resulting in a profit of approximately $488,533.
In his plea agreement, Perez also admitted to disclosing confidential information about General Finance's impending sale to two individuals, a violation of General Finance's insider trading policy. Both individuals acted on Perez's information, resulting in profits of $127,140 and $34,867, respectively.
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has also filed civil charges against Perez in connection with his unlawful activities in this case.
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