The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) today announced charges against UK citizen Robert B. Westbrook for hacking into the computer systems of five U.S. public companies to obtain material nonpublic information about their corporate earnings and using that information to make approximately $3.75 million in illicit profits by trading in advance of the companies’ public earnings announcements.
The SEC’s complaint, filed on September 27, 2024 in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, alleges that, between approximately January 2019 and August 2020, Westbrook gained unauthorized access into the public companies’ computer systems—prior to the companies’ earnings announcements—by resetting passwords of senior level executives’ accounts.
As a result of these hacks, Westbrook deceptively obtained material nonpublic information that he used to trade in the securities of the five public companies prior to the release of at least 14 earnings announcements.
The SEC’s complaint charges Westbrook with violating the antifraud provisions of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The complaint seeks a final judgment ordering Westbrook to pay civil penalties, ordering him to return his ill-gotten gains with prejudgment interest, and enjoining him from committing future violations of the charged provisions of the federal securities laws.
