Former Nomura Risk VP Pleads Guilty to Insider Trading on Acquisition Deal

A former vice president in the Risk Management department of New York-based investment bank Nomura Holdings pleaded guilty to insider trading charges in a US court on Thursday.

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The risk manager, Avaneesh Krishnamoorthy, 42, entered a guilty plea on one criminal count of securities fraud before the U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

Insider dealing convictions carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $5 million. Mr. Krishnamoorthy agreed, as part of his plea agreement, not to appeal any prison sentence of 16 months or less.

The court papers reveal that Mr. Krishnamoorthy, an Indian citizen living in West New York, had admitted to making trades based on insider information that he had obtained while employed at Nomura Holdings, either while working on deals or through being party to conversations with colleagues.

The activity for which he faces charges occurred from last December, and involved buying shares of Neustar, a publicly-traded technology company, which rose 21 percent after the private equity firm Golden Gate announced its plans to acquire the Virginia-based company for about $2.9 billion.

Avaneesh was able to earn about $48,000 in illicit profits thanks to trading Neustar's stock and options in a brokerage account held by him and his wife based on inside information he learned through his employer, federal prosecutors said.