SEC Announces Insider Trading Charges For N.J. Man For Pharmaceutical Acquisition Knowledge

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday announced insider trading charges against David Post of Livingston, N.J., who generated nearly $700,000 in illicit profits after receiving tips that two pharmaceutical companies were about to be acquired. Post and his source, Zachary Zwerko, who was charged earlier this month, were formerly business school classmates who had used "burner" cell phones, used coded text messages and used a dummy email account to exchange information, the SEC said. Post paid Zwerko $7,000 for the information at a Halloween party and paid him an additional $50,000 in a shoebox earlier this year, the SEC alleges. The SEC filed a complaint in the U.S District Court for the Southern District of New York, saying Zwerko gave knowledge that his company was about to acquire Ardea Biosciences Inc. and Idenix Pharmaceuticals Inc. and that he accessed confidential information.