PHILADELPHIA – United States Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams announced that Mark Wayne Ramsey, 32, of San Francisco, CA, was sentenced to 60 days in prison, three years of supervised release, and was ordered to pay a $5,000 fine by United States District Judge Gene E.K. Pratter for his participation in an insider trading scheme.
In September 2021, a jury found the defendant guilty of four counts of securities fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit securities fraud. Evidence presented at trial showed that Ramsey traded on inside information provided by Damilare Sonoiki, at the time a junior analyst at Goldman Sachs, regarding upcoming mergers involving four Goldman Sachs clients: Compuware Corporation; Move, Inc;, Sapient Corporation; and Oplink Communications. LLC. Sonoiki provided this information to Ramsey and his roommate Mychal Kendricks, then a linebacker for the Philadelphia Eagles. Ramsey and Kendricks purchased call options in the target companies between July and November 2014. During the football season, when Kendricks was busiest, Ramsey became the primary contact with Sonoiki, and Ramsey made the trades in Kendricks’s account based on the insider information Sonoiki provided. When the proposed merger was announced in each case, the value of the options purchased by Ramsey and Kendricks increased significantly. During the period of the conspiracy, the trading conducted by Ramsey and Kendricks from Kendricks’s account resulted in profits of nearly $1.2 million on the four securities.
Defendants Sonoiki and Kendricks both pleaded guilty in September 2018 to insider trading and conspiracy charges based on this same conspiracy. In July 2021, Kendricks was sentenced to one day in prison and three years of supervised release, and was ordered to pay a $100,000 fine. In the same month, Sonoki was sentenced to one month in prison and three years of supervised release, and was ordered to pay a $5,000 fine.
“This case was about three individuals who thought they could cheat the system to make a quick buck,” said U.S. Attorney Williams. “When individuals engage in insider trading, it undermines the integrity of our financial markets and harms ordinary investors who abide by the rules. Our Office will continue to investigate and hold accountable individuals who engage in this type of illegal activity.”
“Mark Ramsey knowingly traded on material, non-public information, to score a handsome profit,” said Jacqueline Maguire, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia Division. “To maintain their integrity, our financial markets must be a level playing field for all investors, not just those with friends in the know. That’s exactly why the FBI works hard to hold accountable anyone engaged in insider trading.”
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Securities and Exchange Commission, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys David Ignall and Eileen Zelek.