British man nabbed for ‘sophisticated’ hacking, insider trading
Robert Westbrook, 39, of London, has been arrested and charged by US authorities with allegedly hacking into five companies' computers to obtain sensitive earnings information.He allegedly made $3.75 million in illegal profits by trading on insider information before the results were publicly released.
The United States Department of Justice intends to seek Westbrook's extradition to face charges of securities fraud, wire fraud, and five counts of computer fraud, according to a criminal indictment released on Friday. Westbrook was apprehended in the United Kingdom this week and faces civil charges from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. His attorney has not been publicly identified.
While the companies involved were not named in court documents, financial information suggests they could be Tupperware, Tutor Perini, Guidewire Software, Murphy USA, and Lumentum Holdings.
According to authorities, Westbrook's "hack-to-trade" scheme allowed him to gain access to executives' email accounts from January 2019 to May 2020. He allegedly used this material nonpublic information to purchase stocks and options prior to at least 14 earnings announcements. In several cases, he created rules to automatically forward content from these email accounts to his own.
Jorge Tenreiro, acting chief of the SEC's crypto assets and cyber unit, described Westbrook's actions as "sophisticated international hacking," noting that he used anonymous email accounts, VPN services, and bitcoin to conceal his activities. Neither of the companies involved has been accused of any wrongdoing.
If convicted, Westbrook faces a maximum 20-year prison sentence for securities and wire fraud, as well as up to five years for computer fraud.
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