The Brampton developer accessed headlines early and made hundreds of trades
A former newswire software developer who exploited access to unpublished press release headlines has been sentenced to jail and ordered to pay more than $1.4m in penalties for insider trading.
The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) announced that Harpreet Saini of Brampton pleaded guilty on July 25, 2024, to insider trading under section 76(1) of Ontario’s Securities Act.
He received a sentence of six months less a day in jail.
The Court also ordered him to pay $1,149,114.93 in fines, including disgorgement of profits and an additional $100,000 penalty.
A mandatory 25 percent fine surcharge under the Provincial Offences Act brought his total financial penalty to $1,436,393.66.
Saini is also banned from trading for 10 years under the Securities Act.
Between May 2018 and July 2021, Saini worked at a newswire distribution network specialising in corporate press releases.
In his role as a software developer, he accessed material non-public information by viewing corporate release headlines before publication.
He made 553 trades based on 497 unpublished press releases, generating more than US$770,000 in illicit gains from over 400 transactions.
“Employees who have access to confidential corporate information have a duty to safeguard that information and not misuse it for their personal benefit,” said Bonnie Lysyk, executive vice president of Enforcement at the OSC.
She added that insider trading is illegal and undermines investor confidence, and the OSC intends to use all available tools to address such misconduct and hold wrongdoers accountable.
Saini and co-accused John Natividad were both charged in September 2022 under the Securities Act.
The charges against Natividad remain before the court.
The OSC’s Criminal Investigations & Prosecutions team, part of its Enforcement Division, led the investigation.
The team focuses on securities-related fraud, market manipulation, and related misconduct, including breaches of Capital Markets Tribunal or Court orders.
Charges under the Securities Act are prosecuted by the OSC, while those under the Criminal Code are prosecuted by the Ministry of the Attorney General.
