Lawfuel – The Law Newswire – Lead story – Two lawyers have pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy and securities fraud in a case federal prosecutors have described as one of the most pervasive Wall Street insider trading rings since Ivan Boesky and Dennis Levine.
The $15 million scam reached into some of the nation’s top financial firms, relying on insiders at Morgan Stanley and Co. and UBS Securities LLC to steal valuable secrets from the companies, according to the government.
A former Morgan Stanley employee and her husband, both lawyers, pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiracy and securities fraud in the case.
Randi Collotta, 30, who worked for Morgan Stanley in Manhattan, and her husband, Christopher Collotta, 34, who worked in private practice, were among 13 people who were criminally charged in the case. They have each been free on $250,000 bail.
The couple received $9,000 in kickbacks for tips given to others that generated more than $600,000 in illegal profits, Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Fish said.
In a plea deal with the government, Randi Collotta agreed not to appeal any sentence as long as it falls in the range of one year to one and a half years in prison, while her husband said he would not appeal a sentence in the range of 10 months to one year and four months. U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero set sentencing for Sept. 7.
