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Business

SEC charges two in Herbalife insider trading

By
Michelle Celarier
Published Sep. 30, 2014, 11:33 p.m. ET

The Wall Street battle over Herbalife has drawn accusations of insider trading from billionaire investors on both sides of the fight.

But so far, the only charges in the federal probe of trading in the stock involve two young men somewhat removed from the battle of the titans.

And the illicit profits? A paltry $47,100.

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday sued two men for alleged insider trading over a tip, in December 2012, that activist investor Bill Ackman planned to launch a bearish attack on Herbalife.

Filip Szymik, a 28-year-old consultant who lives in New York, found out about Ackman’s upcoming presentation from his roommate and childhood friend, Mariusz Adamski, then a junior analyst at Ackman’s Pershing Square hedge fund.

The analyst, who left the firm in September of last year, has not been accused of wrongdoing. Ackman told The Post his departure was unrelated to the probe.

Szymik agreed to keep the Herbalife information confidential and didn’t trade on it. But he allegedly shared the details with another friend, Jordan Peixoto, 30, who was then a research analyst at Deloitte in New York.

Peixoto bought Herbalife put options — a bet the stock would fall — ahead of Ackman’s Dec. 20, 2012, presentation, the SEC alleged. The stock then plunged 39 percent, earning Peixoto $47,100.

Szymik agreed to a penalty in that amount. Civil charges against Peixoto are still pending.

“Pershing Square was in no way implicated,” Ackman wrote in a note to investors Tuesday. “We assisted the SEC and are satisfied that those who misappropriated our inside information were held accountable.”