Former Equifax exec Jun Ying has been charged with insider trading, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Ying is accused of knowing that Equifax had been hacked and selling company shares before the public was notified.
Ying, who was “next in line to the be company’s global CIO, allegedly used confidential information entrusted to him by the company to conclude that Equifax had suffered a serious breach,” says the SEC release. He sold $1 million in shares and avoided a potential loss of $117,000.
Following the revelation of a widespread hack at the credit reporting agency, Equifax shares took a tumble on the stock market. Shares were above $142 and quickly fell to beneath $93 in the subsequent days.
Ying wasn’t the only employee who sold shares, resulting in several execs getting accused of insider trading. TechCrunch wrote something at the time about different executives, and received this defense from Equifax, particularly with regards to the CFO.
“As announced in the press release, Equifax discovered the cybersecurity incident on Saturday, July 29. The company acted immediately to stop the intrusion.
The three executives who sold a small percentage of their Equifax shares on Tuesday, August 1, and Wednesday, August 2, had no knowledge that an intrusion had occurred at the time they sold their shares.”