In a reversal of the typical story that grabs the headlines, former NFL linebacker Mychal Kendricks and former Goldman Sachs banker Damilare Sonoiki have been charged with insider trading over profits totally approximately $1.2 million.
Trading Information for Eagles Tickets and Cash
Most often, we see professional athletes taken advantage of by unscrupulous financial professionals. Because these athletes are very wealthy but also very inexperienced when it comes to finances and asset management, they are prime targets for predatory financial advisors, brokers, and even friends with a clever scheme to make a quick-score.
In the case of Kendricks and Sonoiki, however, the player was the perpetrator and the market at large the victim. According to media reports, the two men began working together on an insider trading play in 2014. The SEC has indicated that Sonoiki sent Kendricks non-public information about a public traded company via coded text messages and FaceTime video chats. In exchange for the juicy information, Kendricks sent Sonoiki $10,000 in cash and Eagles tickets; he also secured Sonoiki a place in a music video by a popular recording artist.
According to reports, the former NFL linebacker made over $1 million in profits thanks to the information he got from the former Goldman banker. Both men, however, are expected to plead guilty to criminal insider trading.
