Waltham man convicted of insider trading charges by passing on information to golfing buddies

A Waltham man has been convicted of insider trading for tipping off his golfing buddies about the business activities of a company that helped them make more than $500,000 illegally.

Eric McPhail was convicted this week in federal court in Boston following a seven-day trial, and 90 minutes of jury deliberations.

Prosecutors say the 41-year-old McPhail learned inside information about American Superconductor Corp. from a senior company executive who was a member of the same Watertown golf club, then passed that information on to other golfing partners. Those friends then made trades based on that information between July 2009 and April 2011.

McPhail faces up to 20 years in prison at sentencing scheduled for Sept. 17. He is the second person convicted in the case.