Executive Sentenced For Insider Trading Scheme

  (RPC) - 5/12/2015 - Former chief information officer of Foundry Networks, Inc. David Riley was sentenced on April 27 to 78 months in prison for his participation in an insider trading scheme that yielded approximately $39 million in ill-gotten gains. Foundary Networks is a California-based technology company that was acquired by Brocade Communications, Inc., in 2008. The sentence was imposed by U.S. District Judge Valerie E. Caproni.
   Riley was convicted following a 13-day trial in September 2014 in which the jury unanimously concluded that Riley passed inside information about Foundry’s acquisition by Brocade and about Foundry’s earnings for the first quarter of 2008 to Matthew Teeple, a former analyst for San Francisco-based hedge fund Artis Capital Management, L.P. Teeple pled guilty to related charges in May 2014 and was sentenced principally to 60 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Robert P. Patterson on October 16, 2014.
    “David Riley took advantage of his insider position at Foundry Networks to funnel sensitive nonpublic financial information to Matthew Teeple. This inside information enabled Teeple’s firm to reap nearly $40 million in illegal profits. This conduct has now earned Riley more than six years in federal prison," Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said
    According to the Superseding Indictment filed February 20, 2014, other court documents, and the evidence presented at trial: As CIO and a Vice President at Foundry, Riley had access to monthly and quarterly financial reporting, along with other sensitive, nonpublic information relating to Foundry, well before such information became public. RILEY provided this Inside Information to Teeple – sometimes by telephone and sometimes during meetings the two arranged in the San Jose, California, area. On several occasions, RILEY spoke with Teeple while logged into the database that Foundry used to maintain sensitive financial information. The Inside Information that Riley passed to Teeple included quarterly financial performance numbers during the first quarter of 2008 and information regarding Brocade’s intended acquisition of Foundry in July 2008.
   Teeple passed the Inside Information he obtained from Riley on to others, including others at Artis. From the Inside Information Teeple provided about Foundry, Artis ultimately reaped gains of approximately $39 million.  
   In addition to the prison sentence he received, Riley, 48, of San Jose, California, was ordered to pay a fine of $50,000.
   Bharara praised the investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and thanked the Securities and Exchange Commission, which has filed civil charges in a separate action.
   Source: Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force