Robert Gadimian, 48, of Burbank, Calif., was sentenced by
U.S. District Court Judge William G. Young to 27 months in prison, two years of
supervised release and ordered to pay a fine of $25,000. In November 2017,
Gadimian pleaded guilty to seven counts of securities fraud and insider
trading.
From November 2011 to October 2014, Gadimian was the Senior
Director of Regulatory Affairs at Puma Technology Inc., a biopharmaceutical
company based in California whose principal focus was the development of a
breast cancer drug called neratinib. Puma was involved in several ongoing drug
trials for neratinib including one that a Massachusetts-based consulting firm
was conducting for Puma.
By virtue of his position at Puma, including his attendance
at steering committee meetings and project team meetings related to ongoing
drug trials, Gadimian learned sensitive, non-public information about the
ongoing trials. Gadimian traded on that inside information and made significant
profits, in violation of Puma’s insider trading policy. For example, in July
2014, Gadimian purchased a series of short-term Puma call options in advance of
a July 22, 2014, public announcement that Puma achieved positive results during
one of the trials. The following day, Puma’s stock price jumped approximately
295 percent, and Gadimian then sold all the call options he purchased and
profited $910,000 from his illegal trades. In total, Gadimian made profits of
$95,000 in 2013 and $1,060,000 in 2014.
United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling and Harold H. Shaw,
Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field
Division, made the announcement. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
provided assistance in bringing this case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Neil J.
Gallagher Jr. of Lelling’s Economic Crimes Unit prosecuted the case.
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