Dive Brief:
- James Dunham was sentenced to five months in prison yesterday for selling confidential industry information to an analyst, Reuters reports.
- The analyst’s subsequent report on sales of BlackBerry’s new smartphone in 2013 caused the company’s stock price to plummet.
- The case is the first of its kind by U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz in Boston, who is now investigating a number of other instances where the black market may have been used to sell secret corporate information.
Dive Insight:
Dunham was the former CEO of a wireless company who reportedly struck up a secret consulting relationship with the analyst in 2010. The information Dunham provided to the analyst was used for reports sent to investors.
In April 2013 Dunham provided information about BlackBerry’s new smartphone that caused BlackBerry's stock price to fall 7 percent. The company then urged U.S. and Canadian regulators to investigate.
Ortiz's office says it is now investigating several similar cases.
“We will not hesitate to prosecute individuals who buy and sell confidential corporate information, regardless of whether there is a provable link to insider trading," Ortiz said.
